Bushed: “Believe What I Say, Not What I Mean” Edition

Crooks and Liars:

First up is Republican candidate John McSame as Bush McCain, who has backpedaled from his touted “League of Democracies” idea as some in his party express alarm at the concept. Not so neocon Charles Krauthammer, who claims authorship of the idea, and touted it from his regular gig as a FOXNews Analyst as a way to “essentially kill the U.N.” I can see how that’s going to play on the world stage, can’t you? Remind me again how someone like Krauthammer still gets a national platform?

Then there is the story we brought to you yesterday about the DoD sending out retired generals on the payroll to help shape public opinion on the war by serving as uncritical military analysts. While it is understandable that Olbermann sought to defend MSNBC’s in house analysts, I’ve heard them tout the White House line on occasion as well. The second part of Keith’s question still needs to be answered: how do we know they’re still not doing it?

And finally, we have my personal nominee for Worst. Secretary of State. Ever. Condoleezza Rice and her tone-deaf taunting of Muqtada al-Sadr which, as Olbermann points out, can only lead to certain conclusions about Rice’s motives:

Nobody has any use for (al-Sadr), but it’s interesting to note that ever since he agreed to a government request from the Iraqis for a cease-fire for his part of the insurgency – still the most effective part of the insurgency – we’ve called him a loser because he went for that cease-fire, and now the Secretary of State is calling him a coward. See, Madam Secretary, you keep mocking this bozo and it begins to look like you want him to start the full-scale bloodshed, because that of course would make it easier for you to keep this damn war going. And even if that’s not the motive, who was it who wrote, ‘if you make your enemy look foolish, you lose the justification for taking him on’? Oh yeah, the author John LeCarre, who started out life as David Cornwell, British spy and diplomat.