McClellan's Off the "Accomplished" Team

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan could not resist adding a little irony to the session where it was announced that he was being fired -- er, stepping down -- as the chief spinner for the Bush administration.

"You have accomplished a lot over the last several years with this team," McClellan said to President Bush.

Yes, the team has accomplished so much that it is being systematically dismantled by new White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten at breakneck speed. With public support for the president's agenda dipping to Nixon-in-Watergate lows, and with even the Republican Congress breaking with the White House on major issues, Bolten -- who replaced ousted Chief of Staff Andy Card -- seems to have determined that the administration might need a new team.

In addition to McClellan's exit Wednesday morning, Karl Rove was edged out of his position as deputy White House chief of staff for policy development. Rove's being delegated back to his old job of managing Republican campaigns from within the White House and at taxpayer expense.

What next for old team that helped the president "accomplish" a 33 percent job approval rating?

Let's just say that Treasury Secretary John Snow may not be launching any new projects.

Speaking the other day at the Derryfield Restaurant to members of the Greater Manchester (New Hampshire)Chamber of Commerce, Snow said he hopes to attend a signing ceremony on legislation that would lower tax rates. Snow did not say whether he expected to do so as a member of the Cabinet or a private citizen, but it is a fair bet that a treasury secretary who is making the rounds of local chamber of commerce luncheons probably ought to be polishing up his resume.

Comments (85)

1. so they'll get another shill to do their lying for them, so what? for heaven's sake, they're talking about nuking Iran to prevent them from getting a nuke, and your wasting time with one Blood House cypher being replaced with with another.Can we talk about what dropping a nuke would do to america's standing in the world? or even the mis-administration's standing here in OUR country?

   Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 10:38am

2. Sadly, JOHANNES, I think some people in this country would cheer the administration, as if it were their favorite sports team scoring on the hated rival.

   Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 04/19/2006 @ 10:55am

3. Who cares. McClellan served no useful purpose except for providing several does of unintentional comedy. So, one hack who refused to give direct answers or "comment about an official investigation" is being replaced with another who will spout the same b.s. If they put a robot in McClellan's likeness on the podium, nobody would have noticed for months.

   Posted by Hman23 at 04/19/2006 @ 11:00am

4. Jr,

   The US is not going to nuke anyone...the Iranians will or give it to some other group representing God, and they will use it here...

   Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:00am

5. Mr Nichols missed his own KEY line....

   "Rove's being delegated back to his old job of managing Republican campaigns from within the White House and at taxpayer expense."

   Why is that? Simple....Bush isn't running again. Rove going where he's MORE USEFUL (i.e. to getting Republicans elected in 2006). Like many of the Bush-centric obsessed, Mr Nichols seems to think that Rove "being removed" from Bush's policy advisor is going to "hurt Bush", when it's not about HIM anymore...but the Republican Congressionals (and whoever the 2008 Repub Prez nominee is maybe).

   Concentrating on the Bush Administration is EXACTLY the wrong thing to be doing....it's a lame-duck Presidency. But, given that the Left has now fallen into the same trap the Right did under Bill Clinton....few get it.

   Posted by Mask at 04/19/2006 @ 11:11am

6. Exactly. I think it's barbaric that the US not only has so many wars they are currently involved in, but that it goes about them as if it were in fact just another sport or pastime. But this great competition isn't one in which the winner is the team that hits the ball better or scores more goals, rather, the one who succeeds in killing more of its fellow men while unleashing more destruction on a greater scale. Just the idea of having a nuke dropped on your country inspires sheer terror, and it is this very reason the US threatens to use one or two of these gems produced by their well-funded scientists, as terror totally demoralizes the enemy and scares the shit out of every man, woman and child.

   That the US composes theme music to accompany the televised carnage of its wars, and gives them names such as "Noble Eagle", "Just Cause", or "Operation Enduring Freedom" is even worse, as they all represent despicable attempts to give some kind of moral justification to the depravity and inhumanity required to succeed in mass killing. Then to have armchair generals and other talking heads on the screen cheerleading with the satellite images, maps and close-ups provided by the cameras mounted on the Big Bombs is sickening. War gets prime-time coverage in the US, as the proper spin needs to be perfected as the PR industry knows well that the story most often believed by the rabble is that which it first hears.

   Right now the US is in the fearmongering, demonizing and dehumanizing stage of yet another enemy, whipping up the horror and hatred needed to cajole public approval for so sinister an act. Never has there been such a concentration of time, wealth, technology and science dedicated to the production of death and destruction as now seen in the United States. They will probably not win the World Cup this year, but you can damn well bet they can send any nation in the Middle East back to the Stone Age with only a fraction of its current population. Now that is something to be proud of, and surely something to howl and beat your chest for.

   Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 11:13am

7. Go MAASCH - another day, another chance to sow hysteria. Better build yourself a bombshelter and stockpile that shit you're always smoking.

   Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 11:17am

8. "Operation Enduring Freedom" is even worse, as they all represent despicable attempts to give some kind of moral justification to the depravity and inhumanity required to succeed in mass killing.

   I think you have to exclude that one. Although not as well-managed as it should've been, going into Afghanistan was justified.

   Posted by brunowe at 04/19/2006 @ 11:21am

9. Chimi, Us win the world cup in soccer? notachanceinhell. they couldn't even win the gold medal in BASKETBALL, with players from the world's best pro league. they US soccer team did however make it into the semis and would have gone to the final, had the german hand ball been caught.

   Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 11:23am

10. I am just paying attention. No one does until it is too late. I am not chicken little here, just looking down the road after looking bad the other way(the past) and extrapolating a little..

    Try it...it is not doom and gloom, just looking.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:24am

11. Early line on McClellan's replacement: Greg Brenneman, ex-c.e.o. of Burger King, where serving up Whoppers is a good thing.

    Posted by nathanhale at 04/19/2006 @ 11:25am

12. And in looking back I don't see the US as the bad guy, rather, the guy who has to pick up the mess.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:26am

13. I knew that McClellan was dimwitted, but now it appears I have stuff growing on my shower curtain that is a higher order of intelligence. How can you be the President's press secreatry (with all that access and contacts) and not know you're on the chopping block?

    The day before Josh Bolten gave you an opportunity to resign.....and you didn't take him up on his offer. What a complete idiot!

    Good riddance to bad rubish.

    Posted by freedomplease at 04/19/2006 @ 11:32am

14. JOHANNESROLF -

    Yeah, they even blew the world baseball series. Losing to México. Do people there blame that on the immigrants too?

    MAASCH -

    How can you assume the worst of Iran and go along with the threats without even giving a slap on the wrist to Khan and Pakistan? And if India uses or sells its newfangled technology recently gifted by Yankee Doodle in ways not considered proper in the Nuclear Bomb Owner's Guide?

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 11:32am

15. Chimmy,

    If you watch Fox News they'll give you the impression that Iranian nuclear warheads are already in flight to Tel Aviv as we speak so that's where the likes of Maasch are coming from.

    Roger Ailes is pimping for another ratings generating war.

    Posted by freedomplease at 04/19/2006 @ 11:35am

16. Chime,

    I disagree with the India and Pakistan treatment. They are only "friend" One can only count friends when he is in real trouble. Personaly, I think we are hoping to buy a friend amongst enemys. It is bad policy and we will pay a heavy price for this. I believe all these friends will turn on US someday and that is when the hard decisions will be made.

    Don't mistake me for one who blindly follows Bush. I am more conservative than he ever hoped to be. I am also not interested in any Dem alive today.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:39am

17. Free,

    I was actually watching CBS at the time. One doesn't have to watch TV. Read what their leader is saying...and yes, in my opinion, if you had been around when Herr Hilter was just getting started you might think he was the boggie man of the English who were jealous of the autobahn system....

    I wonder what some of Johannes relatives would say about the Iranians?

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:42am

18. The greatest problem with the gung-ho Bushmen and war connossoiers posting here as always is the thought that there in no other vehicle on the international highway but that of the Gringo. He is the only mensch, the only soul that matters, the only one possessing an opinion worth anything, the only one with enough wits to comprehend the world, when in reality he is just another arrogant bully blinded by greed and power, always failing to learn from the follies of his neighbors.

    Of course, ask any neocon and he'll tell you things are different today, failure isn't in the stars for the US, his ship is always capable of riding out the storm, but even Stevie Wonder can see a degree of desperation in the rhetoric of late, as violence and aggression and fear are always the cards on the table these days. Family values? Education? Cures for the petrol addiction? Nah. It is this lack of attention to the hundreds of small leaks that will sink the ship in the end, when the water they take on collectively is too much to keep the ship afloat, more so when more and more of the crew is depended upon to make holes in other ships rather than fix their own.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 11:45am

19. Roger Ailes is pimping for another ratings generating war.

    Posted by FREEDOMPLEASE 04/19/2006 @ 11:35am

    The war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the coming war with Iran is always about the greedy Republicans making more money -- they don't care if Americans die in wars based on lies, as long as it is not their sons and daughters.

    Posted by oraibi1952 at 04/19/2006 @ 11:49am

20. Say Maasch -

    How will that terrorist nuke from Iran in the hands of some other country "representing God" get here?

    Teleporter?

    Or would it be by plane or boat?

    Hmm, one could make a good argument here for abandoning the folly of Iraq spending and putting that money towards port and airport security...

    Posted by New Dawn at 04/19/2006 @ 11:53am

21. bruno:":going into Afghanistan was justified".

    justified by what? not by the results, certainly. that war is a failure, not as bad as Iraq, but a failure nonetheless. they didn't get Osama for one thing. Denied Al Qaeda sanctuary? er, not exactly. al qaeda can find "sanctuary" in any number of countries, Pakistan the most prominent. so what was accomplished in Afghanistan? a change of warlords? a puppet regime in Kabul? the soviets were there for ten years, and what is left from their incursion? nothing

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 11:54am

22. Posted by ORAIBI1952

    Orb,

    Why are you drinking so early,,there is a 12 step program near you I am sure. No one can really believe this stuff you just posted.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 11:56am

23. Oh, and on-topic,

    Later days, Scotty, you fat little lying scumbag. Buh-bye. Go knock a few back with Fleischer in the I-can't-stand-my-own-lying-face-in-the-mirror-anymore home...

    We can love or hate his replacement in due time, everyone, but for now, don't piss away the joy of getting rid of this little shill. Just another hole in the dike.

    Posted by New Dawn at 04/19/2006 @ 11:58am

24. They ought to replace McClellan with that Jon Lovitz character, "Yeah, that's the ticket!"

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 12:00pm

25. BWahahahahaHAHAHAHahahahahahhaaaa

    Posted by New Dawn at 04/19/2006 @ 12:04pm

26. Somebody said to me yesterday...

    Fox News - America's Al Jazeera...

    Posted by New Dawn at 04/19/2006 @ 12:08pm

27. Actually, maybe MAASCH is the guy for the job opening at the Casa Blanca. He's proven time and again that he can not only reiterate what he hears, but believe it without questioning any and all evidence to the contrary. Someone throw that dog a bone!

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 12:17pm

28. Z,

    "you've returned with your hysteria"

    My hysteria? See Bush lied, Haliburton, War for oil, Cheney,...et al, ad nauseum

    "The date 2020 has even surfaced in press"

    Really? God,thats solved.

    "very, very real question as to what the Iranians would do with a nuke if they actually ever got one. "

    Really? Read and listen to their words and deeds..(Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ect,...erase Israel..

    "though they bank that oil in dollars, and do business with the US all the time ...) but they are not stupid and can see what is good for them. "

    They are changing to Euros and gold,...France helps them.

    "it's ok for you to use your brain on this issue. I really wish you would."

    Funny, this is the hidden message in my post for you.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 12:19pm

29. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 11:00am: The US is not going to nuke anyone...the Iranians will or give it to some other group representing God, and they will use it here...

    Maa, you're really gonna need to adjust the meds. Iran does not have nukes. So, you see, as any 5th grader knows, this means that it would be hard for them to use nukes. It would also be hard to give them to some other group representing God. It would be like you saying "I'm going to give you some good advice".

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 12:20pm

30. Yes, Mask, 2000 was such a devasting election for the right.

    Posted by Hman23 at 04/19/2006 @ 12:21pm

31. Ah, Orwell,....ZZZZZZZ

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 12:23pm

32. Scott said today, off the record: "I have been continuously looking forward to stop looking forward, hence finally being able to move forward in a firm way on spending time with my money. I told George I was disappointed with the proposed amount, but he told me Dick was pissed today already, so no doubt he'd serve my b***s to Rummy, first thing after naptime, if I kept whining WHpresscorps-style for one more second. Teaming up to accomplish total failure sure did not prove to be what I expec.." -- inaudible -- sound of dozens of triggers being pulled at once, numerous gunshots. Next!

    Posted by uuft at 04/19/2006 @ 12:28pm

33. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 12:23am: Ah, Orwell,....ZZZZZZZ

    Since you are now resting peacefully, I will assume that you are no longer agitated about the imminent threat of an Iranian attack on the US with their virtual nuclear weapons. I am glad that I was able to help.

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 12:30pm

34. "though they bank that oil in dollars, and do business with the US all the time ...) but they are not stupid and can see what is good for them. "

    They are changing to Euros and gold,...France helps them.

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 12:19am

    MAASCH,

    Please see Iranian Oil Borse and why this has nothing to do with France or any other EU country helping them and more to do with the effects on the US dollar, which would be drastic. If China decided to use convert its profits into Euros tomorrow you'd probably try to cover it up with some unrealistic military threat too, point fingers at their evil intentions and poor treatment of its citizens, neighbors, ect, before shining the nukes and aiming them at Peking.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 12:31pm

35. France has helped Iran on the table and under the table for years... but I know, if I only thought correctly and identify all things in the world wrong is the fault of Bush...if only the genius ALGORE were in the Wh where he belongs, the world would be right and would love us...sigh.....

    Got to go to work..

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 12:38pm

36. The discussion of Fox News is interesting and actually quite relevant to the topic of this blog entry. As everyone here surely knows, the newsmedia is, and always has been, a consumer-oriented business. Television and print media put a product out into the marketplace, and print/air what their customers want to buy.

    Given this age of technology and the unprecidented level of choice that consumers have today, it makes sense that businesses like Fox News (and The Nation) exist. With the rise of the internet and non-traditional media, the newsmedia (with some exceptions) has been forced to go after increasingly "niche" marketplaces on the right and the left ends of the political spectrum. They have to tailor-fit news to what their customers want to see/read/hear.

    What this means for the powers that be is that they can put press secretaries like McClellan up there on a stand and allow them to dissemble away, evade questions and provide an endless series of non-answers. They can do this because they know they don't have to shape the news themselves: they can trust that Fox News will put a right-wing spin on every piece, and also know that David Corn's going to take a left-wing point of view. They know in advance how the news is going to be spun -- they don't have to do it themselves.

    Which is sad, because it means that we don't have a newsmedia that's willing to do anything more than confirm their clientele's already-existing point of view. And it also means that McClellan's departure is non-news. It's just going to be more of the same.

    Posted by breasonable at 04/19/2006 @ 12:43pm

37. Right on BREASONABLE. But I heard chatter about Tony Snow I think from Fox being a possible replacement. Wouldn't this only underline both Fox's role as White House echo chamber and cheerleader while making even more evident the one-sided winger ideologies and perspectives of the current cabal?

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 12:47pm

38. Welcome back, Chimichenga!

    Posted by Sweetdaddy at 04/19/2006 @ 12:52pm

39. Oh, and Zero, the rightie whiteys here do have to attack France. The irony is that had they lived in Vichy France during the nazi occupation, they'd have been supporting Petain, just like they support the Petains of today.

    Posted by Sweetdaddy at 04/19/2006 @ 12:53pm

40. Yes, Mask, 2000 was such a devasting election for the right.

    Posted by HMAN23 04/19/2006 @ 12:21am | ignore this person

    THEY had something to run on, HMAN.....Dems won't.

    Not if they listen to the Bush-centric Fringe and WASTE their time on impeaching a lame-duck President (as the GOP did in 1999) and not trying to show....AFTER TWELVE YEARS out of power...that they can govern and accomplish something.

    Dems going to run on a "Do Nothing Republican Congress" in 2006....and then Do Nothing But Investigate Bush in 2007-2008?!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 04/19/2006 @ 12:54pm

41. " SPECIFICALLY PERTAINING TO THEIR NUCLEAR ENERGY PROGRAM "

    Do you really think they need nuclear power? Oil up to their eyes for hundreds of years?

    WE need nuclear power, but I am sure you and most here are against that , too.

    "However, you deny every fact in the world that would tend to undermine the conclusion you've already arrived at"

    I have seen anything that would change my mind based on what I have seen and heard.

    "This makes it very frustrating to try to communicate with you. Please understand that. "

    I do understand this statement, the question is...can you understand this about yourself from my point of view?

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 12:56pm

42. "in your rush to attack France"

    I quit.I give up..useless..

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 12:57pm

43. CHIMI, I don't think it matters who picks up where McClelland has left off, regardless of whether they were a talking head on Fox News in a past life. I'm pretty sure that everyone in America knows that Fox is more or less a GOP organ, and either loves it or detests it according to their own predilictions. Similarly, everyone alreadly either loves or hates the Bush administration according to their own predilictions. In this age of hyperpartisanship (and particularly here, in news-junkie blogland), I don't think anyone's winning any converts, regardless of who's doing the talking or the reporting. It's unfortunate. And in the meantime, we'll all live in our comfortable little worlds, hearing only the news that we want to hear.

    Posted by breasonable at 04/19/2006 @ 12:58pm

44. Z,

    I have never advocated bombing Iran and have always stated that the best way to beat Iran is with Iranians. Where do you get this?.."getting you to even acknowledge that there is not even an immediate, short-term need to bomb Iran "?

    Where do you find this gem?

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 1:07pm

45. Posted by ZERO 04/19/2006 @ 12:48am: Maasch: in your rush to attack France

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 12:57am: "in your rush to attack France"

    I quit.I give up..useless..

    Nice going Zero. Now we are going to have to try to muddle through without Maasboy's pearls of wisdom. What can replace such brilliance as "I have seen anything that would change my mind based on what I have seen and heard."? Oh, how will we cope?

    Maybe you should apologize.

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 1:12pm

46. Do you want an Iranian deterent? They are floating on it..if they threat the gulf shipping, which it can't with one sinkung tanker, you have a credible deterent. How about giving preferntial oil treatment to China and India over the west? How are funding every terrorist group on the planet...fully funding, but a nuclear deterrent for Iran? Like having Saudis buy more sand to build up their defenses. Ridculous.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 1:13pm

47. That's it. You cannot see or hear what you aren't trained to, hence the practice of only absorbing that which confirms one's beliefs, which are of course, gotten at second-hand. I find that Americans especially are immune to any evidence which challenges even their most irrelevant convictions. They seem extremely lazy when it comes to connecting the dots and actually putting their own thoughts and beliefs to the test. Or is it that they fear the consequences and discoveries which may await he who actually searches for and attempts to verfiy the "truth", he who makes an effort to truly confirm or dispel his thoughts and suspicions. It's easier to just open one ear and one eye while keeping the others closed.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 1:13pm

48. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 12:57am: I quit.I give up..useless..

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 1:07pm...

    Damn. I thought you had quit. Yet, ten minutes later, like a metastasizing cancer, he's back.

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 1:14pm

49. ZERO's paste from Counterpunch points again to the importance of this adminstration's definition of a White House Spokesman. Fleisher was a smooth and greasy liar. The words flowed from his mouth like the finest Extra Virgin olive oil. The problem was that it took the press corps too long to unravel the sophistication of his talking points. Out with Ari and in with Scott. No problem understanding Scott. Simple words, repeated without consideration of context and with no evident grounding in a real understanding of what the administration is doing. The problem was that his meekness and obvious stupidity emboldened the hapless corps into challenging him, chasing him out of the room with his tail between his legs.

    As we enter this new time of public diplomacy and private war planning in regard to Iran, the White House is in need once again for someone who can twirl the press corps around his/her finger. By confusing them with complex charades for the next year or so, the press will end up once again beating the war drum without the slightest understanding of what we are battling and why.

    Posted by tjbehrens1 at 04/19/2006 @ 1:21pm

50. CHIMI, generally, I'd agree with you. But I don't think that Americans have a monopoly on intellectual lethargy when it comes to worldview. It's human nature to take the most comfortable path and avoid unpleasant truths.

    Posted by breasonable at 04/19/2006 @ 1:23pm

51. Can anyone in the US define the word "peace"? I imagine it means a world of one nation giving table scraps to the bombed remains of humanity under its boot.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 1:26pm

52. More criminality from the corrupt Republican White House?

    I don't get it. Karl Rove is not going to work on policy anymore, but instead use our tax dollars to scheme about the Republican side of the elections in November.

    Isn't the President supposed to be working for the American people? Why doesn't the White House have someone at Rove's level working for the Democratic side of the elections?

    Shouldn't Rove be fired from the White House and go to work for the Republican National Committee?

    Posted by jkrogman at 04/19/2006 @ 1:37pm

53. Peace, geopolitically speaking, is a state in which all interests are balanced, at least to a point in which words, not arms, can be used to resolve differences. Like most things in life, it is easily disrupted and is only maintained through a constant tension, an endless give and take between competing impulses and interests.

    Posted by breasonable at 04/19/2006 @ 1:41pm

54. "Peace" was also what Neville Chamberlain said was "in our time" in 1938....and did....until September 1939.

    Posted by Mask at 04/19/2006 @ 2:13pm

55. Bush talking about McClellan's resignation:"It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days."

    Is right now the "good old days" to which Bush is referring? can someone tell me WHERE the good is in these days?

    Sue

    Posted by suept at 04/19/2006 @ 2:14pm

56. Too bad it will be rocking chairs and not electric chairs.

    Posted by BlueTexan at 04/19/2006 @ 2:23pm

57. Too bad it will be rocking chairs and not electric chairs.

    Posted by BLUETEXAN 04/19/2006 @ 2:23pm | ignore this person

    Damn straight.

    Posted by New Dawn at 04/19/2006 @ 2:41pm

58. But McClellan should be thankful his head isn't as haunted by dark secrets and sinister actions as George Tenet's certainly is, though I'm sure the two, like many of their counterparts, have problems with the man in the mirror on a regular basis, not to mention the Man above.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 2:44pm

59. Is right now the "good old days" to which Bush is referring? can someone tell me WHERE the good is in these days?

    Sue

    Posted by SUEPT 04/19/2006 @ 2:14pm

    Lowest unemployment ever, low interest rates, low crime rate, low inflation, highest home ownership ever, highest minority business creation,highest take in by the treasury, highest government spending despite crying over cuts,high earnings for most workers, high 401k earnings, high geowth rate for GNP....high ecomonic expantion...

    Are you participating in anything? Or are other people paying your way?

    Spare me the retort..highest debt, but not in relation to GNP,....most people are doing quite well over all. What about you?

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 2:49pm

60. Maasch, how about this retort: polls show over 70% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. Why do all your good numbers add up to people thinking things are headed in the wrong direction? And, by the way, you can bet things'll get worse as $3.00/gallon gas becomes the norm in the next couple of weeks...

    Posted by nathanhale at 04/19/2006 @ 3:10pm

61. MAASCH,

    You gotta stop looking at the world through the peep hole on your well-locked and bolted front door. Most people are doing quite well? Who are "most people"? And why is the pres so reticent to talk to the prospering yolkery face to face about these great times the country is experiencing? Great times to be in the war business, or pharmaceuticals, or oil, but most people are not. You're starting to become a McClellan wannabe.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 3:11pm

62. I beleive the economy is going quite well. I may not live in your world where everything is dead or dying, nor do I wish to go there, but every measure we use to measure the ecomomy is going well. As far as gas, yes, it is high, relatively gas would have to be at $90 a barrel to equal the great times of Jimmy Carter.

    Look around you, we are doing better than you realize. Of course if you get up every morning and see a glass half empty, then maybe you are sleeping upside down and this is your view of the world. Only those here lament the state of the US economy and everywhere else it the world they try to come here to get a piece of it.

    Why don't you try to get in the econmy as opposed to watching the parade go by..

    Even the poll takers and many econmists can not figure why the polls show most think economy is failing, perhaps it is the constant hyping of bad news that bombards us every day. You are being HAMMERED with the idea that it is bad out there. In reality, we are doing quite well. Stock market is up and what, 60-70% of American share in it..Things are going well. No one is going to GIVE you anything unless you want scraps..

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 3:22pm

63. Posted by MASK 04/19/2006 @ 2:13pm: "Peace" was also what Neville Chamberlain said was "in our time" in 1938....and did....until September 1939

    In the world of the subserviant BushBot, all situations analogous to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Only by continually invading other nations can we avoid the indignity of being compared to...gasp... Chamberlain.

    Mask, could you PLEASE just go back to cowering under your bed?

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:24pm

64. "in sciences and engineering?"

    Yeah, we have to hire foriegners for those positions..maybe our schools should be examined? Do we need more graduates in womens studies, ethnic studies, or perhaps sciences?

    How about this, teach students how our economy works for a change? How to build wealth rather than tax our asses to prosperity?

    Come on, it takes effort and desire to get ahead, and long hard hours, not union locked wages for a "job security", it takes drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed and not cry and list all the reasons everyone CAN'T get ahead. And most times it is shitty and hard. I live in a different world and strive to move ahead and not wait for policy wogs and government edicts, which just slow the rest of us down.

    I guess that is why I am taxed so heavily and all here think I am whinning...but I surrender a huge portion of my efforts to ..what? Complaints I don't pay enough. I got news for you,,there is no lottery in life.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 3:29pm

65. Zero,

    We have never been a nation of savers and that is sad. I save.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 3:30pm

66. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 2:49pm: Lowest unemployment ever, low interest rates, low crime rate, low inflation, highest home ownership ever, highest minority business creation,highest take in by the treasury, highest government spending despite crying over cuts,high earnings for most workers, high 401k earnings, high geowth rate for GNP....high ecomonic expantion...

    I knew it. Maasboy is actually Bagdhad Bob.

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:30pm

67. highest disapproval ratings, highest increase in poverty, highest budget deficit, highest trade deficit, highest number of troops killed in Iraq, highest number of party functionaries under indictment, highest number of lies told to the public, highest number of dirty tricks on election day in New Hampshire and Ohio, highest gas prices, help me out here people, there's more

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 3:37pm

68. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 3:29pm: it takes drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed and not cry and list all the reasons everyone CAN'T get ahead.

    And there we have it. The economy is doing great. The only people who are having problems don't have the requisite "drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed". They simply "cry and list all the reasons everyone CAN'T get ahead".

    Given the large numbers of your fellow citizens who report they are dissatisfied with the current state of the economy, I have to ask you maasbreath, why do you hate Americans?

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:37pm

69. You don't get it and never will..I will never see the world the same as you but I am trying to understand the points...

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 3:41pm

70. "The only people who are having problems don't have the requisite "drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed". "

    Just by it self is not a reason some see problems, but it is a part of a larger senario.

    Posted by john maasch at 04/19/2006 @ 3:42pm

71. it takes drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed and not cry and list all the reasons everyone CAN'T get ahead.

    don't sprain your arm patting yourself on the back.

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 3:44pm

72. Allow me to be ZERO for a moment:

    Are John Maasch's comments worthy so such a number of responses?

    Posted by tjbehrens1 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:47pm

73. "of" instead of "so"

    Posted by tjbehrens1 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:47pm

74. Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 3:42pm: "The only people who are having problems don't have the requisite "drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed". "

    Just by it self is not a reason some see problems, but it is a part of a larger senario.

    Has anyone ever pointed out that you are coherency-challenged? Should we ignore your original quote, since it seems to stand in direct contradiction to your new quote?

    What, pray tell, is the larger "senario"?

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:48pm

75. Posted by JOHANNESROLF 04/19/2006 @ 3:44pm:don't sprain your arm patting yourself on the back.

    Given that most of what comes out of Maasboy's keyboard are distortions of reality, if not outright untruths, I don't see why you would give great credibility to his repeated assertions of economic success.

    My guess is that Maasboy is unable to hold a job because he lacks the requisite "drive..intestinal fortitude and a spirit to succeed". His hatred of Americans is actually self-hatred. So, Maasgirl, why do you hate yourself?

    Posted by orwell2005 at 04/19/2006 @ 3:53pm

76. "How about this, teach students how our economy works for a change? How to build wealth rather than tax our asses to prosperity?" Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 3:29pm

    It's kind of hard to teach students anything when teachers are so consumed with teaching test-taking skills. Couple that with the fact that resources for our public schools have been reduced now for years(even before Bush). I know the state of our education system isn't totally Bush's fault but he sure as hell did nothing to help the situation. So now with the recent cuts in our overwhelmed and underfunded educational system, more school districts are cutting funding for music and the arts. So pretty soon your neighbors child, who used to be in the band, will now be doing nothing constructive with his time. Too bad his middle class can't afford private school like his more affluent brethren. Oh well, they weren't expected to amount to much anyway. Moving on.....

    Posted by k330k at 04/19/2006 @ 3:54pm

77. "Lowest unemployment ever, low interest rates, low crime rate, low inflation, highest home ownership ever, highest minority business creation, highest take in by the treasury, highest government spending despite crying over cuts, high earnings for most workers, high 401k earnings, high growth rate for GNP....high economic expansion..."

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 2:49pm

    You must get your information from FOX Fable News. Let us disassemble your rosy picture of how great everything is for all of us white people, oops, I mean Americans.

    Lowest unemployment? That number is so much BS. Your are not counted as unemployed when you don't get unemployment payments anymore. Thus millions are not counted as such. I guess you don't travel much around the states, as you would see many dieing small towns with no employment, or the jobs are just minimal service work that has no benefits or hope of a future. But, it does provide many recruits for our armed services, as that is their only hope of ever getting anywhere in life and out of that town, but the lie only sucks them in to be used as cannon fodder.

    Low Interest rates? They are at the highest level in years. Ask homeowners who have to now pay hundreds of dollars more a month in house payments due to the easy way the banks suck you in with the adjustable rate, even though they know that you will not be able to afford those balloon payments. Not to mention the credit card companies increasing their minimum monthly payments after making it so easy to get people hooked, knowing full well that these people would not be able to afford such debt. Again, more drain on the household income.

    Low Crime Rate? Violent crime is down, however property and corporate crime have gone up considerably, and that rate would be higher if law enforcement actually investigate the real crimes that have been committed by our own corporations and government. (Enron, Halliburton no bid contracts, Katrina, Iraq, CIA, 9/11, etc.)

    Low Inflation? Another manipulated number, made to look like the Feds are actually in control of inflation, especially when they don't count energy costs it is easy to say inflation is low. Not!

    Highest Home ownership? I got a shack down by the river that I'll sell you for half a million. SOLD! to the nut job who thinks they can flip it in another month to the next sucker. 40% of the homes in the Phoenix, Arizona area were bought by speculators. Not real home owners, thus the market is way over inflated and will adjust with devastating consequences for those stuck on the top of this ponsie pyramid. That has been the only thing keeping the stock market afloat since the crash of 2000.

    Highest minority business ownership? Boy, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the minority population has increased substantially, thus more minority business owners. Duh!

    Highest take in the treasury? Not sure what that means, unless you mean the draining of our treasury to fund the occupation of foreign countries and install our own regimes, or government subsidies to the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies?

    Highest government spending? No debate on this one, this so called conservative administration has hit new highs for spending and national debt. The GNP numbers are also manipulated, and have no relevance to the real world.

    High earnings for most workers? Wow! Now I know you're swimming in the coolaid. The average earnings for most working Americans has not kept up with inflation, energy costs, health care and everything else. I guess the fat cat CEO's have made a killing, on the backs of their employees.

    High 401K earnings? As long as the stock market does good, we are all ok, but wait till the market crashes again, then we are all screwed. No security there, unless your an inside trader or a top government official you can cash out before the rest of us have a clue.

    High economic expansion? Yes, outsourcing has become a big business, but there are plenty of low paying jobs (and part time at that) with no benefits available. The middle class is getting smaller and smaller. No opportunities for the next generation, there will be no middle class life for them, only hard work, poor health and no future. But the military will always have a job for you. They will need as many bodies as possible when the Middle East is ignited by our illustrious leaders thirst for world domination.

    So, Maaschbrain, your spinning in circles and going no where with your close-minded view of the world. Start looking and thinking beyond the mindless rhetoric of the neocons and use rational thought, question everything, don't take the easy way out by just going along with what ever bullshit they spew out on the MSM. Dig deeper, the treasure of truth or as close as we can get to it, is our only option.

    Posted by ttwain at 04/19/2006 @ 4:42pm

78. You don't get it and never will..I will never see the world the same as you but I am trying to understand the points...

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 3:41pm

    You want to understand? You don't know shit about the majority of the people in your country whose closest attempt at understanding the American Dream is realized by watching some idiot on a reality tv show spend/waste more money in two minutes than he makes in a year.

    Posted by chimichenga at 04/19/2006 @ 4:49pm

79. good skewering TTwain, Maasch is so out of touch and so stubborn in mindlessly repeating this crap, that I can no longer read him, ignoresville. same with Fry, where I am arguing with a guy who states that the working poor are better off with less money. It's one thing when we argue if a glass is half full, but when there's only the dregs on the bottom of the glass and they argue that it's full, that's when I've had enough of both of those twits

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 4:59pm

80. Lowest unemployment ever,...

    Spare me the retort..highest debt, but not in relation to GNP,....most people are doing quite well over all. What about you?

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 04/19/2006 @ 2:49pm | ignore this person

    JM, when you make statements like this, the problem is that it REAL EASY to check their accuracy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at http://www.bls.gov/cps/prev_yrs.htm, your satement is unture. At least 16 times the unemployement rate has been at or below what it is in March 2006. Also, it appears that every year of the Clinton presidency, unemployement rates went down. Then, in 2000, unemployement rates began to rise every year until 2004 and 2005.

    Other interesting facts abound at that site. Did you know that 96% of all the "new" jobs being created now are in service industries? 46% are jobs in wholesale and retail trade. That would be sales clerks ringing up sales on registers, people stocking the aisles at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. Or waitresses and bartenders. You know, those minimum wage jobs we heard so much about when the issue of raising the minimum wage was being discussed. I seem to remember the arguement at that time (from you maybe?) being that it wasn't necessary to pay a higher minimum wage for those jobs because nobody did them for long...certainly nobody tries to support a familiy on those jobs.

    The reality is that much of the "good" statistics you cite are based on borrowing. Did you know that consumer debt is at an all time high? Did you know that this year, for the first time, consumer debt is higher than consumer spending? Everyone is having to charge necessities, not just luxuries. Everyone I know has, or is, pulling money out of the equity in their houses.

    Consumer debt, service sector jobs, the downscaling of jobs in general...these are NOT signs of a healthy economy. When you say things like "...most people are doing quite well over all"...well...that's EXACTLY the kind of attitude that many Dems find abhorent. The economic reality for MOST Americans is very, bery different from your perception.

    Posted by Lillian at 04/19/2006 @ 5:24pm

81. consumer debt is higher than consumer spending..

    I meant consumer debt is higher than consumer savings

    Posted by Lillian at 04/19/2006 @ 5:29pm

82. bery nice post

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/19/2006 @ 5:30pm

83. Let's see .. Bolton taking over for Card... Scott history as the spin master, will clark be the replacement?, Rove delegated back to covert smear and attack king... Rumsfeld and Cheney continuing to act as heat shields.... Does the President really think an additional layer of lipstick on this pig will change anything???

    Posted by was at 04/19/2006 @ 7:31pm

84. Of course he does. But as Chimichenga says, the only history that matters to the "president" and his supporters is the road of the Gringo. It will end trying to kill us all.

    Posted by OyaSon at 04/19/2006 @ 9:02pm

85. McClellan, what a maudlin jerk, crying crocodile tears for his commander in thief. revolting, coming from a professional liar.

    Posted by johannesrolf at 04/20/2006 @ 5:59pm