The Prez asks GM CEO to step down and also reportedly intervened to stop the massacre in Gaza

hmmmm... maybe there's more going on behind the scenes than i thought...

general motors...

The chief executive of struggling US car company General Motors - Rick Wagoner - has agreed to step down.

He will leave his post immediately at the request of the White House, a government official confirmed.

[...]

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS, President Obama said the firms must do more to justify further aid, saying "they're not there yet".

"We think we can have a successful US auto industry," the president said.

"But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge - at the other end - much more lean, mean, and competitive than it currently is.

"
seymour hersh on obama's role in gaza...

Even before his inauguration, Hersh notes,"the Obama transition team also helped persuade Israel to end the bombing of Gaza and to withdraw its ground troops."

and that step in the right direction, naturally, didn't please the dark lord...

When former Vice President Dick Cheney learned that Obama had been putting pressure on the Israelis, he angrily disparaged him as "pro-Palestinian" and described him as someone who would "never make it in the major leagues."

hersh also thinks obama is going to play a major role in moving things forward in that benighted region...

"The differences between Obama’s Syria policies and those of the Administration of George W. Bush have attracted relatively little attention," Hersh writes, recalling Bush's long list of preconditions for any improvement in US-Syrian relations and mockery of Syrian President Bashar Assad for believing that he holds the key to peace in the region.

According to Hersh's sources, Syria is eager for peace with Israel and is backed in this by "Arab leaders who are invested in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process." In addition, the failure of Israel's campaign in Gaza to dislodge the Hamas government has given Assad room to negotiate without seeming to be appeasing Israel.

Assad himself emailed Hersh last winter to say, "We still believe that we need to conclude a serious dialogue to lead us to peace" and to note that he believes a personal meeting with President Obama would be essential. Obama, for his part, has expressed a willingness to meet with Assad without preconditions.

some cause for cautious optimism...? let's fervently hope so...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Danger! WaPo op-ed! Stay back at least 100 ft.!

most of the time, when i read crap like this, i intuitively and unconsciously factor in the spin... i skim through and, once i've gotten the gist, i move on... however, i think every once in a while it's both important and useful to be a bit more thorough and, paragraph-by-paragraph, word-by-word, and phrase-by-phrase, dissect just exactly how the writer is choosing to get his or her point across...

this op-ed in today's wapo, excoriating the democrats for being cool toward colombia's president, provides a perfect opportunity to see how our media can toy with our collective heads...

first, they set the stage by introducing the Star of the Show...

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe may be the most popular democratic leader in the world. Last week, as he visited Washington, a poll showed his approval rating at 80.4 percent -- extraordinary for a politician who has been in office nearly five years.

then they paint him as an unassailable Good Guy...

In a region where populist demagogues are on the offensive, Mr. Uribe stands out as a defender of liberal democracy, not to mention a staunch ally of the United States.

then we meet the Bad Guys, and get treated to some examples of their exceptionally Bad Behavior...

After a meeting with the Democratic congressional leadership, Mr. Uribe was publicly scolded by House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose statement made no mention of the "friendship" she recently offered Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Human Rights Watch, which has joined the Democratic campaign against Mr. Uribe, claimed that "today Colombia presents the worst human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Western hemisphere" -- never mind Venezuela or Cuba or Haiti. Former vice president Al Gore, who has advocated direct U.S. negotiations with the regimes of Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently canceled a meeting with Mr. Uribe because, Mr. Gore said, he found the Colombian's record "deeply troubling."

next comes the Righteous Astonishment that anyone could treat a Hero of Latin American Democracy so poorly...

In fact this has been well-known for years; what's new is that investigations by Colombia's Supreme Court and attorney general have resulted in the jailing and prosecution of politicians and security officials. Many of those implicated come from Mr. Uribe's Conservative Party, and his former intelligence chief is under investigation. But the president himself has not been charged with wrongdoing. On the contrary: His initiative to demobilize 30,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters last year paved the way for the current investigations, which he and his government have supported and funded.

naturally, the motives of the Bad Guys are called into question...

• Some, like Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), reflexively resist U.S. military aid to Latin America.

• Some, like Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.), are eager to torpedo Colombia's pending free-trade agreement with the United States [and] have seized on the supposed human rights "crisis" as a pretext to blackball Colombia.

• Perhaps Mr. Uribe is being punished by Democrats, too, because he has remained an ally of George W. Bush even as his neighbor, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, portrays the U.S. president as "the devil."

and, of course, as a conclusion, we have a dire prediction of the Horrible Scenario that will ensue if the Bad Guys are allowed to prevail...

If the Democrats succeed in wounding Mr. Uribe or thwarting his attempt to consolidate a democracy that builds its economy through free trade, the United States may have to live without any Latin American allies.

with the story line in place, let's focus on the spin, or, as jeffrey feldman would no doubt say, the "frame..." it doesn't take a lot of analysis, let me tell you... from the top... (note: not all of these are contained in the excerpts above but are included in the full article...)

• most popular democratic leader in the world
• extraordinary for a politician
• rescued their country from near-failed-state status
• murder rate has dropped by nearly half
• the free-market economy is booming
• a defender of liberal democracy
• a staunch ally of the United States
• populist demagogues
  
• publicly scolded
• joined the Democratic campaign against Mr. Uribe
• found the Colombian's record "deeply troubling"
• backlash
• opposed him all along
• reflexively resist
• eager to torpedo
• protectionist hard-liners
• blackball
• punished
• ally of George W. Bush
• badly misguided
• consolidate a democracy that builds its economy through free trade

yes, i realize that this is an op-ed, and it's meant to express a point of view, but, wow...! a lengthier list of value and connotation-packed, ideology-loaded, and, yes, manipulative words would be hard to come by... the casual reader, breezing through this screed, articulate and polished though it is, could only come away thinking that the democrats are fiercely determined to, as the wapo puts it, "torpedo" the one good thing that's happening for the u.s. vis a vis latin america, and, morever, stomp on everything that's good and right with our country... it's truly a masterpiece of spin and framing, one that undoubtedly takes many, many years of experience and hard work to be able to write...

in a subsequent post, let me give a bit of context on what's REALLY going on in colombia...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Today's context-free WaPo op-ed on Syria and Pelosi

it's a masterpiece of context-free journalism with a familiar theme - smear pelosi and blame the democrats...

headline...

No Results in Damascus

they go on to say...

Congressional leaders leaders who visited Damascus this month to meet Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad gave a practical test to the oft-stated theory that "engaging" his regime is more likely to produce results than the Bush administration's policy of isolating it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was particularly unstinting in her goodwill, declaring that she had come to see Mr. Assad "in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace."

[...]

Three weeks have passed, so it's fair to ask: Has there been any positive change in Syrian behavior -- any return gesture of goodwill, however slight?

after painstakingly listing all of the areas in which nothing has improved since the visit, they render their judgment...

To recount this dismal record is not to endorse President Bush's refusal to engage in high-level bilateral contacts with Mr. Assad's regime. In certain contexts it may be worth trying to talk to Syria -- for example, when negotiations are directed at particular ends, such as securing Iraq's borders, and coupled with forceful diplomatic and economic steps to raise the pressure on the dictatorship. The danger of offering "friendship" and "hope" to a ruler such as Mr. Assad is that it will be interpreted as acquiescence by the United States to the policies of dictatorship. Ms. Pelosi's courting of Mr. Assad didn't cause [imprisoned human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni] prison sentence this week -- but it certainly did not discourage it.

the bush administration's insistent labeling of syria as part of the "axis of evil," its refusal to engage in diplomatic dialog, and its attempts to isolate syria, are given only the slightest mention and "engaging" syria (the quotes are the wapo's, not mine) is smirkingly labeled as a "theory" (the quotes are mine, not the wapo's)... why in the world would bashar assad move one inch in any direction favorable to the requests presented to him by lowly members of the u.s. house of representatives when he knows the president's position has not (and probably will not) change...?

but, wait, there's more...

the only congressional name in the entire piece is, of course, nancy pelosi, who, as anyone with two brain cells knows, is a democrat, although the word "democrat" does not appear anywhere in the piece... neither does the word "republican" and neither does any mention of either the republican house member, david hobson, who traveled with pelosi or the republican house delegation, robert anderholt and frank wolf, that preceded her or the republican congressman, darrell issa, that followed her...

although only a short piece and written in the measured, articulate, oh-so-insightful manner of a major newspaper's editorial page, this is a perfect example of the kind of journalistic bullshit moyers demonstrated to such devastating effect in his documentary... it is also precisely the kind of journalistic bullshit that's destroying the american public's right to real news and informed opinion rather than government propaganda...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Why is the Vice President of the United States granting an interview with a propagandist?

condi appears with o'reilly... cheney talks with limbaugh... it's an absolute disgrace that our senior government officials CHOOSE to speak with some of the most blatant propaganda mouthpieces in the country...

Vice President Dick Cheney told conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh during a phone interview Thursday that he was "disappointed" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-D) conveyed to Syrian Prime Minister Bashir Assad that Israel is ready for peace talks, and chided her for "bad behavior."

Limbaugh asked Cheney, "What's the administration view today, what's the emotion, what are you thinking about Speaker Pelosi's trip to the Middle East, specifically, the conveyance of the incorrect message to Bashir Assad in Syria about peace talks with Israel?"

"Well, it's not helpful," Cheney replied. "I made it clear earlier that I thought this was -- created difficulty, if I can put it in a gentle form."

Cheney added, "Obviously, she's the Speaker of the House and ought to travel to foreign nations and ought to conduct visits" but "she's not entitled to make policy."

and, of course, all darth is doing is puffing up rush's already incredibly swollen ego...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

A Republican sees Congressional visits to Syria for what they REALLY are

O.M.G... a sane republican voice...

Following his meeting with Moallem, [Congressman Darrell Issa, R-CA] told reporters that he had a "constructive" meeting with Assad, adding that discussions covered many issues.

He said the US Congress members who have recently visited Syria believe that the dialogue they have begun with Damascus "will go on continuously and constructively."

"I have no illusions. We have serious problems to be resolved, but we will resolve them," he said.

He said Pelosi has made clear that the US Congress would continue to carry out fact-finding and to keep the dialogue open. He stressed that the dialogue would continue "leading to better understanding."

Asked to comment on Bush's criticism of the congressmen's visits to Damascus, Issa said: "President Bush is the head of state, but he hasn't encouraged dialogue. That's an important message to realize: we have tensions, but we have two functioning embassies."

< no duh >

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Typical WaPo nonsense

they can't help themselves...

Pratfall in Damascus

that's the snarky headline for today's op-ed excoriating nancy pelosi for having the courage and initiative to attempt what condi either can't or won't do - break a sweat trying to bring peace to israel and syria... they continue on to both ridicule and condemn her effort, and then to use the bush administration's hateful axis of evil rhetoric to describe assad and syria... way to help out, wapo...

[UPDATE]

think progress has the background and, more accurately than my feeble attempt, labels it a vicious smear... and, they point out the obvious...

Fred Hiatt and the Post editorial page get it wrong on Pelosi just like they got it wrong on the recent Iraq legislation, the U.S. Attorney scandal, the CIA leak investigation, the decision to invade Iraq, and on and on and on.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments