Democrats use Osama-Saddam bait & switch on health care

I have often complained that the Democrats have failed to learn the right lessons from the GOP's superior mastery of propaganda and PR. In the health care reform debate, they have misapplied the GOP methods again, using bait and switch, with hope and platitudes about health care replacing the GOP fear of terrorist bogeymen.

The GOP used an Osama-Saddam bait and switch. They got everybody mad at Osama, associate him with Saddam, then dropped Osama out of the equation.

With health care reform, Democrats got everybody excited about a public option, associate it with mandated private insurance, then drop the public option, which will be kept in a freezer in a cave with Osama until needed again.

The big difference is people bought the Osaddama lie for long enough to get the war started. By contrast, no one seems to be fooled by substituting slavery to private insurance companies for the kind of public insurance system every other industrialized country has that is less costly and more effective than ours (except at lining the pockets of the already wealthy).

But the Democrats don't seem to care that they haven't fooled anyone and are going ahead with legislation written by and for the criminals who have killed and bankrupted so many Americans with their epic greed.

Good luck in that fall election, Democrats.

You'll need it.

FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Bush admits no Saddam 9/11 link in 2004 debate

With another presidential election at hand, and terror alerts and odd events about to descend upon us again, it's worth remembering that President George W. Bush admitted during a 2004 presidential debate that the country we invaded and now occupy to the tune of up to trillions of tax dollars spent, over a million Iraqis killed, and thousands of American troops killed and tens of thousands maimed for life, had nothing to do with 9/11.

Nothing.

Bush admitted Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 at least three times.

1. Once in response to polls showing his propaganda had convinced 70% of the public that Iraq was involved in 9/11,
   


2. in 2006 when a reporter accidentally asked an important question,
   
   
3. and in 2004 during a debate with Senator John Kerry (see below).
   

Kerry was not the perfect candidate, but at least in this exchange, he had the better handle on reality; or more precisely, he acknowledged reality whereas Bush lied about and tried to change the subject.

KEY EXCERPTS:

BUSH: I would hope I never have to. I understand how hard it is to commit troops. Never wanted to commit troops. When I was running -- when we had the debate in 2000, never dreamt I'd be doing that.

But the enemy attacked us, Jim, and I have a solemn duty to protect the American people, to do everything I can to protect us....

KERRY: Jim, the president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important in this debate. In answer to your question about Iraq and sending people into Iraq, he just said, "The enemy attacked us."

Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaida attacked us. And when we had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, 1,000 of his cohorts with him in those mountains. With the American military forces nearby and in the field, we didn't use the best trained troops in the world to go kill the world's number one criminal and terrorist...

He also said Saddam Hussein would have been stronger. That is just factually incorrect. Two-thirds of the country was a no-fly zone when we started this war. We would have had sanctions. We would have had the U.N. inspectors. Saddam Hussein would have been continually weakening...

LEHRER: Thirty seconds.

BUSH: First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that.

FULL TEXT

Republicans have successfully sold themselves as the better party on national security, but when they lie to us on an issue as crucial as this, can we trust them with the safety of our country and families?

Iraq War about Oil says former Fed Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan served as Federal Reserve chairman from the Reagan administration until last year. Since his words could have a direct effect on the economy, he chose them carefully when he was in office.

Now that his memoir is coming out, he is saying what the rest of the world already knows and discusses openly, but the American mainstream media, Republicans, and even the vast majority of elected Democrats ignore like a spider: The Iraq War is about oil.

Until this becomes central to the public debate, everything said is about as meaningful and relevant as discussing what the tooth fairy's farts smell like.

FULL TEXT:

September 16, 2007
Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil
Graham Paterson

AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.

In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush’s economic policies.

However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.

Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.

FULL TEXT

OIL THEFT MOTIVE FOR IRAQ WAR SOURCES

POLL: Which second rate Third World Dictator is Bush most like?

I just read that piece by the Churchill historian who compared Bush to Neville Chamberlain, and I couldn't help feeling that it was unfair to Chamberlain, who was wrong but not an ignorant wannabe dictator.

It is likewise unfair to compare Bush to the first rank of evil dictators of the 20th century. He lacks the staying power of Stalin or Mao, and the propaganda flair of Hitler that made him so memorable.

Therefore, the proper analogy is to Third World thug kleptocrats. But which one?

Which second-rate, Third World Dictator is Bush most like?
	Saddam Hussein (primarily for external wars and suppression of internal dissent)
	Francisco Franco (admittedly not Third World but the model for post-Hitler fascist regimes)
	Augusto Pinochet (admired by Milton Friedman and other right wing thinkers)
	Ferdinand Marcos (bland kleptocratic thuggery)
	Baby Doc Duvalier (primarily for the name that inspired me to call W Baby Bush from the start)
	Shah of Iran
	Idi Amin (for Caligula like excess)
	Pol Pot (for screwing his own people to the point that he made Vietnam look like the good guys when they invaded)
	Kim Jong-il (for a spoiled, petulant mediocrity getting to office with dad's help)
	other
Free polls from Pollhost.com

president george w bush saddam hussein dictator Francisco Franco Augusto Pinochet Ferdinand Marcos Baby Doc Duvalier Shah of Iran president george w bush Idi Amin Pol Pot Kim Jong-il political humor professor smartass iraq propaganda corporation fascism democracy political opinion agent provocateur war on terror muslim public opinion opinion public relations foreign policy al qaeda false flag cointelpro northwoods terrorist worst president ever failure war criminal idiot retard closet gay fascist chimp humor comedy funny nazi smartass comments resistance censored news rebel

Dems suckered us with Bush-like Bait and switch

Some of us have often complained that the Democrats have failed to learn anything from the Bushies. Unfortunately, they just demonstrated that they learned how to snooker the public with bait & switch.

Remember after 9/11 we were immediately told bin Laden did it?

Then somehow Saddam became part of the discussion.

Then bin Laden fades and is dropped from the talking points most of the time.

And the action was all about Saddam and Iraq.

Fast forward to 2006:

We elected the Democrats to do two things: end the war and impeach Bush and Cheney.

They say impeachment is off the table and knowing whispers are spread that it will be harder to bring the troops home safely if there's a big impeachment hooha.

So we wait for action on ending the war.

This Iraq appropriation comes up, and they give Bush more money than he wants, but attach benchmarks that are things Bush wants anyway, and a non-binding timeline.

That seems like a sellout until Bush vetoes it, then it seems like it might have been a smart way to make Bush look unreasonable--if they keep sending him that same bill with the mere suggestion of ending the war.

But like Osama bin Laden, the anti-war part drops out of the equation, and they just gave Bush the money with no deadline strings attached.

And just as Bush pulls out the voodoo rattle of Osama to make the rubes pay attention, the Democrats will pull out the anti-war rattle and shake it at us when they need votes or money.

Then once we have cast the ballot or written the check, they will quietly put it away, and go back about their corporate masters' business.

bait and switch osama bin laden saddam hussein harry reid vichy dem oil president george w bush dlc democratic leadership council corruption occupation colonialism white mans burden professor smartass democratlies peak oil corporation fascism impeach impeachment withdrawal democracy worst president ever failure war criminal idiot iraq appropriation bill smartass comments resistance censored news

AP POLL: Bush worse villain than Osama, Saddam, & Satan

Now can the Democrats and media please start treating this guy with the respect he deserves (none)?

Youtube discussion on poll

9/11 iraq war wmd terrorism oil president george w bush osama bin laden dlc saddam hussein osama bin laden political humor colonialism white mans burden professor smartass iraq democratlies peak oil propaganda corporation fascism democracy political opinion george w bush war on terror public opinion opinion poll foreign policy al qaeda false flag cointelpro northwoods terrorist worst president ever failure war criminal idiot retard closet gay puppet fascist chimp movie humor comedy funny torture memo nazi smartass comments resistance censored news rebel

Rumsfeld and Saddam's last handshake (at hanging)

Thanks to the Unapologetic Mexican for the photoshop of Rumsfeld at Saddam's hanging.
click pic to see animation:



If you don't know the story of the 1983 handshake, check this out on Rumsfeld visiting Saddam in the midst of him gassing his own people and Iranians, to offer him US support:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/



saddam hussein hanging rumsfeld handshake video