Obama officials fire back at bin Laden

By GottaLaff

You mean the ObamAdministration isn't going to "smoke him out"? No "bring 'em ons"? No gun-slingin'? Lily-livered libruls:

[U]nlike their predecessors in the Bush White House, who tried their hardest to ignore bin Laden, Obama administration officials took the rare step of engaging the 9/11 mastermind by charging his latest threat is just a desperate attempt to try and upstage the president's trip.

"I don't think it's surprising that Al-Qaeda would want to shift attention away from the president's historic efforts to shift attention away from the president's historic efforts, and continued efforts, to reach out and have an open dialogue with the Muslim world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during a press briefing here.

It was a message reinforced by officials throughout the Obama administration: "I think the timing is pretty self-evident and it doesn't take a rocket scientist on this one," declared Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

P.J. Crowley, spokesman at the State Department, got into the act as well by teeing up the president's Thursday speech in Cairo by taunting bin Laden a bit.

"You have, you know, the leader of the free world speaking from one of the great cities in the world," said Crowley. "And you have the — you know, bin Laden speaking from an undisclosed, you know, location. And I think that speaks — that speaks volumes in terms of the contrast."

Crowley added, "So I think there will be a contrast between the, you know, Bin Laden's vision of intolerance and perpetual conflict and the president's message tomorrow offering a vision of peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, and interconnected world, you know, for the 21st century."

In private, top Obama officials are even blunter, claiming bin Laden feels threatened that Obama's outreach — coupled with his vow to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay — is pulling the terrorist's top recruiting tools off the table.

Boy Georgie v. Obama: Cowboys and Indians v. chess.

George Bush finally speaks... if you can call it that

By GottaLaff

Boy Georgie finally followed the Nation of Dick's lead (what else is new...) and spoke about the Big Torture Issue. But wait, there's more! I posted earlier that he was only answering pre-screened questions, but... wait for it... he took a right turn and went all improv on us:

Former President George W. Bush on Thursday repeated Dick Cheney's assertion that their enhanced interrogation program was legal and garnered valuable information that prevented future terrorist attacks.

In his largest domestic speech since leaving the White House in January, Bush told an audience in southwestern Michigan that after the September 11 attacks, "I vowed to take whatever steps that were necessary to protect you."

Hear that? We're safe because of him! Boy Georgie saved America! Huzzah!

"The first thing you do is ask, what's legal?" he said.

...and then you do the opposite ::best Boy Georgie laugh, heh heh heh::

"What do the lawyers say is possible? I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, 'I've done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.' I can tell you that the information we got saved lives."

Um, what "the lawyers said was possible"? That stuff was like, you know, illegal. They concocted all that legality. You got that?

I didn't think so.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Big Surprise! ::drum roll::

The format of the speech was changed at the last minute when Bush decided to answer questions directly from the audience members, instead of responding to pre-submitted questions provided to a moderator.

That's a first. He must have loosened up a little. He must be feeling less pressured. He must be drinking.

Bush was asked what he thinks about conservative pundits who claim the Obama administration's fiscal policies are opening the door to socialism.

"I've heard talk about that," he said.

Someone must have read the newspaper to him again. That would make, what, twice now?

"I think the verdict is out. I think people are waiting to see what all this means."

Translation: He doesn't understand what any of it means.

The former president earned a noisy standing ovation when asked what he wants his legacy to be.

"Well, I hope it is this: The man showed up with a set of principles, and he was unwilling to sacrifice his soul for the sake of popularity," he said.

Translation: He showed up with barely a whiff of principles (if that), but left them at the White House door; he has no soul, so there was nothing to sacrifice; his poll numbers were too low to even register on a bar chart.

And with that, he collected his fee and scootered on home.

Cartoon of the Day

Via.

Doonesbury: Worst President Ever edition

By GottaLaff

Countdown to The Beginning of Yes We Did:

(click on image to enlarge)

Another 4-panel masterpiece by Trudeau.

Obama Expected to Drop Business Tax Credit

By GottaLaff

He listens. He responds:

On the stimulus, as a show of good faith as negotiations unfold, Obama is expected to drop his least popular proposal, a $3,000 tax credit for companies to create new jobs. Many Democrats have criticized the incentive, touted by Obama on the campaign trail, as ripe for abuse and of dubious merit.

"We've always said we're open to other ideas. This was never set in stone," said a senior Obama adviser of the tax proposal and Obama's stimulus proposals in general.

When Little Georgie Bush used to say he "listened", he really meant he would sit impatiently with his blankie and rock back and forth sucking his thumb, drooling, and dozing off during important meetings.

When P.E. Obama listens, he mulls, he evaluates, he analyzes, he uses his powers of forethought, and then he responds. All without a blankie.

UPDATE: Krugman's ideas. He's a good person for Obama to be listening to.

Last week President-elect Barack Obama was asked to respond to critics who say that his stimulus plan won’t do enough to help the economy. Mr. Obama answered that he wants to hear ideas about “how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy.”

O.K., I’ll bite — although as I’ll explain shortly, the “jump-start” metaphor is part of the problem.

First, Mr. Obama should scrap his proposal for $150 billion in business tax cuts, which would do little to help the economy. Ideally he’d scrap the proposed $150 billion payroll tax cut as well, though I’m aware that it was a campaign promise.

Follow the link for more.