TOADIES AND FOOLS

Yesterday I posted a piece on John Edwards that said he's dangerous, not because he's a Dem, but because he's a dolt.

But wait! There's more! Call now and I'll throw in the Big Enchilada.

It was Super Bowl Sunday and I wasn't paying attention, but I remember surfing past Tim Russert's program briefly and just before I got hold of the remote to stifle him, there for my wondering eyes to see was...yes, John Edwards. I couldn't believe what I thought I heard, and clicked it to blessed off. Today, there's time to check, and here's what I remember.

MR. RUSSERT: Why were you so wrong?

SEN. EDWARDS: For the same reason a lot of people were wrong. You know, we—the intelligence information that we got was wrong. I mean, tragically wrong. On top of that I’d—beyond that, I went back to former Clinton administration officials who gave me sort of independent information about what they believed about what was happening with Saddam’s weapon—weapons programs. They were also wrong. And, based on that, I made the wrong judgment. ...

MR. RUSSERT: But it seems as if, as a member of the intelligence committee, you just got it dead wrong, and that you even ignored some caveats and ignored people who were urging caution.

SEN. EDWARDS: Well, I, I, I would—first of all, I don’t want to defend this. Let me be really clear about this. I think anybody who wants to be president of the United States has got to be honest and open, (No shit, Sherlock...he actually said that) and be willing to admit when they’ve done things wrong. One of the things, unfortunately, that’s happened in Iraq is we’ve had a president who was completely unmoving, wouldn’t change course, wouldn’t take any responsibility or admit that he’d made any mistakes. And I think America, in fact the world has paid a huge price for that. So I accept my responsibility. I’m not defending what I did. Because what happened was the information that we got on the intelligence committee was, was relatively consistent with what I was getting from former Clinton administration officials...

It's fun watching a Trial Lawyer being cross examined...read the transcript...but what he said is that his "error" in voting for war in Iraq was because 1) he checked with former President Clinton's people and 2) he heard the testimony by the intelligence experts before the Intelligence Committee of the US Senate and found, 3) that they were essentially the same.

Anybody who's been awake for the past 8 years knows that it was believed by the Clintons that Iraq had WMD, and it was admitted that he had used them. It was the policy of the Clinton Administration to work for "regime change' as a consequence. "Regime change" was their terminology. Most of the famous UN resolutions and sanctions were applied as a result of Clinton's efforts. That they didn't work, and that the UN Oil for Thieves scam actually funded Saddam's machinations is what led directly to the next Administration carrying the policy to war, an event based on the same information as the Clintonistas had, including a clear statement from Clinton's holdover CIA Chief who characterized the data as "a slam dunk."

Despite this, for the past five years there's been a constant campaign of lies and deceptions...denials of the obvious and more lies that the Bush Administration mislead the country...they took us to war for Oil, for Halliburton, for revenge for the attempted assassination of Daddy Bush, and because The Shrub was too stupid to know what the literati knew all along....that there was never anything to worry about.

Talk of Impeachment. Movies and books talking of Assassination of G.W. Bush. Talk of elimination of the Electoral College...US Constitution be damned. Hysteria and a virtual abandonment of any sense of comity in the governance of our country...and virtual paralysis of the Congress...the War on Terror hamstrung, and for what? For nothing less than revenge and hatred over the loss of the 2000 election.

And now, in the heat of another election campaign, Mr. John Edwards, he of the two Americas...dissembler, liar and airhead to the stars... admits that everyone, including the Dems who so strongly supported the war, was wrong on Iraqi WMDs...based on the same bad information that long preceded George Bush, and which had misinformed two successive US administrations.

Mr. Edwards has made the case, not only that he dishonors America and is a craven toady and fool, but that he is joined by the now vast majority of his political party. Sad. Sad. Sad.