Bush’s top aide Karl Rove just wrote a memoir, entitled Courage and Consequence, in which he claims that Bush 43 did not mislead the nation about weapons of mass destruction as a way to “lie us” into a war.

Crap! Remember the memoirs by other neocons, such as Douglas Feith, who has denied any responsibility in the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal and really any responsibility for anything altogether?

While defending the Bush administration’s handling of Iraq, Rove concedes that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction damaged the administration’s credibility. And he blames himself for failing to set the record straight.

Yes, Karl, please DO blame somebody for not finding stacks and warehouses full of WMDs. You might as well blame yourself too for a very different than expected – by people like you – Iraqi reception of our invading troops. After all, some neocons claimed that the Iraqi people would line the streets and welcome us with flowers and tears in their eyes.

“When the pattern of the Democratic attacks became apparent in July 2003, we should have countered in a forceful and overwhelming way,” wrote Rove. “We should have seen this for what it was: a poison-tipped dagger aimed at the heart of the Bush presidency.”

Rove also comes up with all kinds of lame excuses for the administration’s abject failure after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf coast.

We’ll keep this short and succint: Don’t waste your money buying another neocon memoir.

Technorati Tags: bush, Iraq War, justifying, Karl Rove, Katrina, memoir

We offer you another excellent view on the Republican approach to health care by Washington Post’s Tom Toles.

Technorati Tags: Republican 'Health Care'

About 50 leaders of the “tea party” movement will meet in Washington on Tuesday with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele and other top GOP honchos to discuss campaign strategies and conservative principles.

Tuesday’s meeting on Capitol Hill will mark the first time that a broad coalition of tea party organizers – who, let’s not forget – have railed against both the Democratic and the Republican establishments, will sit down and talk with GOP leaders. Top Republicans have been openly courting the organizers of the movement, looking to pick up their support before the November midterm elections.

Who are the “tea party” people? There have been all kinds of theories and statements about the movement, so it is probably time to clarify this issue a little.

The tea party movement emerged in early 2009 as a protest of President Obama’s economic policies and health-care agenda. It appears to be made up of hundreds of disparate regional groups, there doesn’t appear to be anything along the lines of a national leadership, and different organizers frequently have quarreled publicly about tactics, including at the inaugural, recent National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, where Sarah Palin became even more famous after the discovery that while she mocked President Obama’s use of a teleprompter, she actually had some simplistic notes scribbled on the palm of her hand.

Tea party participants have united around a conservative formula of smaller government, less federal spending and stronger national defense, but, despite rampant rumors, not all of them are Republicans. Many are registered independents and even disapprove of former president George W. Bush and the Republicans who controlled Congress in the mid-2000s just as much as they do of Obama and the current Democratic congressional leadership.

Although drinking hot tea might be considered anti-American by some, here in the land of iced tea and coffee, we certainly do hope that Michael Steele will have the presence of mind to actually serve some nice, hot tea during the meeting.

Technorati Tags: gop, Meeting, Michael Steele, republicans, Tea Party

We’re not sure why the GOP Chairman Michael Steele keeps sending us emails, beginning with “Dear Fellow Republican”, but some of them, including the now seemingly defunct Weekly Trunk newsletter are usually pretty funny.

The GOP’s latest effort is Valentine’s Day greeting e-cards. The mailing says among other things:” This Valentine’s Day, show the most important Republicans, Democrats and Independents in your life how much they mean to you by sending them a GOP Valentine’s E-Card.”

The email continues:” Pass along a special message from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi that they didn’t craft this Valentine’s card behind closed doors like they did with their government-run health care experiment.

Or let President Obama extend your sincerest wishes to a loved one by claiming he’s saved or created millions of Valentine’s – - (We really hate people, who use the so-called “m-dashes”. Stick to single hyphens, please.) just like his party has claimed that the wasteful, pork-filled stimulus bill has created or saved thousands, 1.5 million or 2 million jobs depending on which Obama Administration official you ask.”

The email of course ends with a plea for money. We wonder what is the money going to be used for…maybe for creating Valentine cards, or for planning to deny everything, blindly criticize and put roadblocks against everything that the president is trying to achieve?

And now let us reward you with a few of the GOP’s loving Valentine “creations”.

We certainly hope that your sweetheart will appreciate these cards, created with the usual, subtle and tasteful Republican touch

Technorati Tags: Cards, gop, Valentine

The facts are that areas of the U.S. and in particular the Mid-Atlantic region have been hit with record, or near-record amounts of snow this winter. Europe got snowed in rather severely as well. As far as we know at this time, avalanches have killed at least 165 people in Afghanistan.

These facts of course are bringing up all kinds of “I told ya’!” comments from climate change deniers.

That great scientific mind, Fox News’ Sean Hannity has said, “It’s the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories.”

Republican Senator Jim DeMint posted in his Twitter feed: “It’s going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries ‘uncle.’” And Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, took his family to the National Mall to build an igloo, which they christened “Al Gore’s new home.” Inhofe described the stunt as “really humorous.” Pretty creative building style for someone from Oklahoma, we think. What we really would love to see is Mr. Inhofe actually moving into the igloo and spending a few days there, freezing his butt off, even as he continues to curse Al Gore.

What all of these scientific geniuses do not seem to be able to comprehend is that weather is not the same thing as climate. Even with their undisguised glee, the deniers should probably beef up on their education, rather than on igloo-building skills.

It is quite possible that some will eventually realize that winter snows do not invalidate the reality that the planet just experienced the hottest decade on record. Scientists have been warning for decades that global warming would increase the severity of winter storms and as we can clearly see, the warning was perfectly justified.

National Wildlife Federation climate scientist Amanda Staudt explains that winter storms are getting fiercer even as the season gets warmer. “The last few years have brought several unusually heavy snowstorms as warmer and moister air over southern states has penetrated further north, colliding with bitter cold air masses,” she said.

In closing, please watch an excellent and very much to the point animation by Washington Post’s Ann Telnaes.

Technorati Tags: al gore, change, Climate, de Mint, deniers, global warming, Hannity, Inhofe, Science, snow storms