"America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced."
~ Bush, January 10, 2007

"They have brought forward these benchmarks. And what the President is saying is, fine, we will judge you now less on your words and more on your performance."
~ Senior Bush Admin Official, January 10, 2007

"...the standards were "designed to lock in failure."
~ internal White House memo, August 30, 2007

"A bar was set so high, that it was almost not to be able to be met."
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, August 30, 2007

Asked to comment on the GAO draft, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are there on the ground every day in Iraq, and it's important to wait to hear what they have to say." He disputed any suggestion that the July White House assessment did not consider all internal views, noting that it resulted from "a lengthy and far-reaching process throughout the State and Defense departments and other agencies."

Johndroe emphasized that "while we've all seen progress in some areas, especially on the security front, it's not surprising the GAO would make this assessment, given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow."

Morning Shows Focus On Democrats, Conservative Watchdog Group Says

The major television network's morning news shows have devoted considerably more time to reporting on the Democratic candidates than they have on the Republican contenders, according to a conservative media watchdog group.

Morning shows on ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 284 campaign segments to Democratic candidates through the end of July, 152 to Republicans, and 81 stories on a possible independent run by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the Alexandria, Va.-based Media Research Center.

.....

"There is no pretense of political balance. They are actively rooting for a Democratic victory next year, and they have the power to make a real difference," said Media Research Center founder L. Brent Bozell in a column appearing on the group's Web site.

"You've got a former first lady and a black senator fighting for the nomination," said Jim Bell, executive producer of NBC's "Today" show, according to AP. "That's historic. We're not going to make apologies for covering that."

Dumbazz

The president has vowed to veto eight of the 12 spending measures needed to keep the government operating. Bush opposes Democrats' efforts to add $22 billion to the $933 billion the administration is seeking for the portion of the budget that is subject to annual appropriations.

Congressional Democrats want the extra funds for education, veterans' health care and border security contained within the budgets of various federal departments and agencies.

The request -- which would come on top of about $460 billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147 billion in a pending supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- is expected to be announced after congressional hearings scheduled for mid-September featuring the two top U.S. officials in Iraq. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker will assess the state of the war and the effect of the new strategy the U.S. military has pursued this year.

The request is being prepared now in the belief that Congress will be unlikely to balk so soon after hearing the two officials argue that there are promising developments in Iraq but that they need more time to solidify the progress they have made, a congressional aide said.

Supporters of the war in Iraq ask that Congress and the public wait until next month before judging whether the surge in U.S. troops is raising the level of security. By Sept. 15, Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander on the ground, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to report on military and political progress in Iraq.

The problem with that request, as White House spokesmen repeatedly explained to the press last week, is that there isn't going to be a report by Petraeus and Crocker to Congress and the U.S. public. The Sept. 15 report will be written by the White House staff and sent to Congress above President Bush's signature. The president's report ostensibly will take into account suggestions made by Petraeus and Crocker, but the public will not know how closely the military assessment from the war zone tracks the political imperatives of the White House.

Pentagon won't make surge recommendation to Bush

In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won't make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations.

"Consensus is not the goal of the process," Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "If there are differences, the president will hear them."

Military analysts called the move unusual for an institution that ordinarily does not air its differences in public, especially while its troops are deployed in combat.

White said it suggests that the military commanders want to be able to distance themselves from Iraq strategy by making it clear that whatever course is followed is the president's decision, not what commanders agreed on.

.....

At the same time, Morrell made it clear that the decision rests with the president, not the military.

Senator Craig defends his "I'm not gay" speech citing the "Degrees of Gayness"

In an exclusive interview with myfoxnewsonline.com , Senator Larry Craig tonight defended his stance on not being gay. Senator Craig showed up for the interview with his beard wife in tow.

Senator Craig stated that there are "degrees of gayness", and that according to these degrees, he is not gay.

When pressed for details on these "degrees of gayness", Senator Craig responded by saying:

"Well you see, there are numerous degrees of gayness, which can help you determine if you are gay or not. Let's say you're married, like me, for instance. By general decree my marriage to a female makes me not gay. The fact that I like sex with other men has nothing to do with this".

Senator Craig then went on to list the degrees of gayness:

1st degree: You're married, and Republican, but like getting sex from other men. Notice the key word from other men. If you receive oral sex from another man, or if you perform anal sex on another man, that doesn't make you gay because you're not the one sucking that dick or taking it in the ass.

2nd degree: You're married, and Republican, but like performing sex on other men. Since you're married it means you aren't gay, and besides, your wife only said she'd leave you if she caught you with another woman.

3rd degree: Here's where we draw the line at not being gay. The 3rd degree is any sexual contact with another man if you are unmarried and/or not a Republican. This makes you totally GAY!"

Satire

August 30 - the day after Katrina drowned the Gulf... this is what our fearless leader was doing.

Mr Bush said: "Iran's pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies (we still have friends and allies?) to isolate Iran's regime to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late."

"I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."

GOP Sen. Larry Craig tells reporters 'I am not gay'

"First let me please apologize to my family, friends and staff and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho," he says. "I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I did nothing wrong and regret the decision to plead guilty."

Craig blames the Idaho Statesman, his local paper, for mounting an intensive investigation into reports that the GOP lawmaker was a homosexual who trolled public restrooms for sexual partners. The paper didn't publish anything about Craig's sexual orientation until this morning, after the arrest was reported by Roll Call.

"In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision," he tells reporters. "While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else I chose to plead guilty in the hope of making it go away."

Craig says he didn't seek counsel from his family, friends or attorney while deciding how to deal with the arrest. He has asked his attorney to review the matter and advise him on how to proceed.

How did he know about the foot tap then?

Mark Foley (R-FL): Resigned amid reports that he had sent sexually explicit Internet messages to at least one underage male former page.

Bob Allen (R-FL): Charged with offering to perform a sex act on an undercover male police officer.

Glenn Murphy (OH-Chairman of the Clark County Republican Party): Charged with performing an unwanted sex act on a man while he slept in a relative's Jeffersonville home.

Ted Haggard (CO-Pastor of New Life Church): Haggard admitted he had received a massage from a Denver man who claimed the prominent pastor had paid him for sex over three years.

Jeff Gannon (White House Correspondent-Gay Hooker): Has a male escort service on the side.

David Vitter (R-LA): Had an affair with the D.C. Madam's hookers while wearing diapers.

Randall Tobias (R-Bush appointed Global AIDS Ambassador): Same as Vitter.

Romney links Craig with Bill Clinton

In his interview on CNBC's Kudlow & Company (which will air later this afternoon), Mitt Romney had some sharp words for Sen. Larry Craig, who had endorsed the former Massachusetts governor's presidential campaign and was his Idaho chairman. "Once again, we've found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence. Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine... I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short."

And Romney also included this jab at Bill Clinton as he continued to talk about Craig: "I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we'll just forgive and forget. And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected--an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, 'Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you're someone like that person.' And we've seen disappointment in the White House, we've seen it in the Senate, we've seen it in Congress. And frankly, it's disgusting."

At least he got a b.j. from a WOMAN!

Foley is a REPUBLICAN! Craig is a REPUBLICAN! Vitter is a REPUBLICAN! Bob Allen is a REPUBLICAN! Glenn Murphy is a REPUBLICAN! Jeff Gannon is a REPUBLICAN! Pastor Ted Haggard is a REPUBLICAN!

Other than being REPUBLICAN, what do they have in common Mitt? Most of them are gay hypocrites.

U.S. Says Pope Immune From Molestation Lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department has told a Texas court that a lawsuit accusing Pope Benedict XVI of conspiring to cover up the sexual molestation of three boys by a seminarian should be dismissed because the pontiff enjoys immunity as head of state of the Holy See.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler said in Monday's filing that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would be "incompatible with the United States' foreign policy interests."

There was no immediate ruling from Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the southern district of Texas in Houston. However, U.S. courts have been bound by such "suggestion of immunity" motions submitted by the government, Keisler's filing says.

A 1994 lawsuit against Pope John Paul II (search), also filed in Texas, was dismissed after the U.S. government filed a similar motion.

Values

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig was arrested.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure resolution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy. The question issue now is simply this: Did he lie under oath? Did he perjure himself and did he obstruct justice? And that's where we're trying to go now in this truth-seeking process.

Good morning.

Thirteen years ago I entered public service to make a positive difference in the lives of others. And during this time I have traveled a remarkable journey, from my home state of Texas to Washington, D.C., supported by the unwavering love and encouragement of my wife Rebecca and our sons Jared, Graham and Gabriel.

Yesterday I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney general of the United States effective as of September 17th, 2007.

Let me say that it's been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women who work here. I have made a point as attorney general to personally meet as many of them as possible, and today I want to again thank them for their service to our nation.

It is through their continued work that our country and our communities remain safe, that the rights and civil liberties of our citizens are protected, and the hopes and dreams of all of our children are secured.

I often remind our fellow citizens that we live in the greatest country in the world and that I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as Attorney General have been better than my father's best days.

Public service is honorable and noble. And I am profoundly grateful to President Bush for his friendship and for the many opportunities he has given me to serve the American people.

Thank you, and God bless America.

An influential U.S. Senate Republican says President Bush should announce an initial withdrawal of troops from Iraq on September 15. Senator John Warner of Virginia made his comments to reporters Thursday, just days after visiting Iraq.

Senator Warner, a member and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says he is recommending that President Bush announce the beginning of a troop withdrawal from Iraq on September 15 as a way to press the Iraqi government into taking steps toward political reconciliation.

"Take into consideration the need to send a sharp and clear message throughout the region, to the United States, and one that people can understand; I think [there is] no clearer form of that than for the president to announce on the 15th, that in consultation with senior military commanders, he has decided to initiate the first step in a withdrawal of our forces," said Senator Warner.