George Bush Unfiltered...I kind of miss him

By Jack Brummet

Arts and Paranormal Editor

One thing I did like about George W. Bush as President (one of the very few) was his--sometimes shocking and often appalling--lack of filters.  I don't know if you remember some of his post 9/11 speeches on waging war, but he was dangerously bellicose. . .and committed.  George didn't quite stray into Curtis LeMay's "Bomb them into the Stone Age" turf either.  Ish.    BHO's carefully nuanced speech makes Dubyah's twisted syntax and rambling seem *almost* charming.

One of President Bush's best wack moments ever came down in a speech he made on  on May 25, 2005 at the Greece Athena Middle and High School in Greece, New York.


"...third time I've said that. [Laughter.] I'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. [Applause.]
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Ex-Veep Cheney weighs in on gay marriage: President Obama? You've been Dicked.

click Dick and Barack to enlarge

by Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor
Illustration by Jack Brummet, Editor-in-chief

How often in the last nine years has Dick Cheney taken a stand to the left of our current President? As far as I can tell, once. On Monday. Ex-Veep Cheney, who has made a hobby lately of defending his administration's choices, did the right thing and came out squarely in favor of gay marriage (not unlike another arch-conservative, Ted Olson). And he did it with sincerity and panache. Barack Obama, in the meantime, is left to babble about civil unions.

Incredibly enough, Dick Cheney took time from his relentless defense of the former Bush administration to say, yeah, gay marriage is OK. Barack Obama, for possibly ethical, but more likely politically expedient motives, sticks with the civil union dodge.

I would almost grant Dick Cheney an All This Is That halo , but I just can't bring myself to do that. The ATIT halo is only awarded to real heroes (like Mario Cuomo or the hero pilot Sully). After all, Mr. Cheney has spent the last six months spouting his self-justifying gibberish to anyone who would give him the time of day, in hopes of derailing Barack Obama (or at the very least, burnishing the Bush Administration's pathetic "legacy"). But like the stopped clock that is right twice a day, even Ex-veep Cheney gets it right every now and then.

Mister President, I think you've been Dicked.
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George W. Bush teetering on the edge of sanity?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


According to The Globe, Ex-President George W. Bush is rudderless, and depressed. It probably shouldn't be all that shocking to most of us. How would YOU feel if you'd done what he did to the country for eight years?




"JUST weeks after leaving the White House, depressed and paranoid George Bush is suicidal, insiders fear. In a blockbuster world exclusive, sources tell GLOBE the ex-President is boozing up a storm - and reveal why he is terrified of Barack Obama and his own wife Laura."




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Editorial on Obama's "I screwed up"

[click all paintings and photos to enlarge]




By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Jack Brummet recently made an excoriating poorly-conceived snarky interesting pictorial comment on Obama's "I screwed up" mea culpa, particularly his juxtaposition of The President's photo next to one of Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife, who could, notably, screw up a two-car funeral.

I found BHO's admission refreshing, particularly in light of the major dissembling we saw during the Bush-Cheney Administration. How refreshing that we actually elected a President whose immediate instinct was NOT a cover-up, choosing a sacrificial lamb from his staff roster, or the usual dissembling, back-pedaling, partisan backbiting, and lying.

"I screwed up," is the most exhilarating phrase to come out of the Oval Office in a long time! It almost hearkens back to President Harry S. Truman's "The buck stops here." I made a mistake! Sorry. I'll try not to do it again.



What did we hear from the White House when they withdrew the laughable and ill-advised nomination of Harriett Miers to fill one of the vacancies created by William Rehnquist's death and Sandra O'Connors retirement? On October 27, 2005, the White House announced that "Harriet Miers has asked President Bush to withdraw her nomination." This, after a massive firestorm from both political parties (ed's note: interestingly enough, it was Harry Reid's idea n the first place).

What did we hear from President Bush on May 1st, 2003, a few months after the war began? "In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." And, of course, "Mission accomplished." Nearly six years later, the mission is still underway with around 90,000 civilian deaths, and 4,237 military personnel dead--note: 4,090 of those military deaths occurred after The President announced as he stepped out of his flying suit (he was just a passenger):

"Mission accomplished!"

Obama's admission may not be a pretty truth, but it was the truth. He screwed up, and we can live with that. You get a Mulligan this time, BHO, even if cranky pundits like Jack Brummet abuse you for your forthrightness.



Go Barry Go!
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Sarah Palin explains How Obama Won with collusion from "the bloggers" and liberal media as she is interviewed for the documentary "Media Malpractice"

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Correspondent

Sarah Palin was recently interviewed for what seems to be a right wing documentary on how Obama won, titled "Media Malpractice." It's basically stock Palin. . .interestingly, she doesn't take on the McCain campaign who were probably more responsible than anyone for how she was perceived by the media, and the public, particularly in the last month of the campaign, when they unabashedly threw her under the bus (ed note: do not infer by this that we don't believe she fully deserved to be placed under the bus).


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Dick Cheney Returns Home

click to enlarge

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Pablo Fanque: My favorite All This Is That Articles On Ex-President George W. Bush

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairts Editor

Some of my favorite articles from All This Is That over the last term of the Bush Administration:

George Bush sees ghosts
President Bush finally beats Nixon & becomes the most unpopular ...
Former Press Secretary McClellan says Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby Lied
Laura Bush puts the mark on George Bush/President Bush rumored to ...
Retired General George Washington Lashes Out At President Bush
Jimmy Carter Reams Bush: Bush Responds Like A Wounded Swamp Sow
President Bush drunk at Camp David
Alien Lore No. 65 - George Bush, Dick Cheney & The Greys
President Bush: "Stop doing this shit!"
President Bush lights up the "c***suckers" in the press
President Bush, remembering images of her tush, makes a move on ...
President Bush, reacting to yesterday's article on All This Is ...
President George Bush 'channels' Adolph Hitler during Iowa speech (includes audio clip)
Presidents Bush and Chirac, and Queen Elizabeth II F*** For Peace!
Priests to Purify Archeological Site After President Bush Visit
Former President George HW Bush excoriates his son's war
Bush and Abramoff captured together in explicit photographs
President Hugo Chávez: Hang President Bush First
Revelation: President Now Suffers Enuresis--More Trouble Every Day
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Cancelled! George Bush mosies off into the sunset

click to enlarge
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Our thoughts on bi-partisanship after reading Krugman's editorial in yesterday morning's New York Times

By Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor

I had planned to write a long, learned, disquisition on Krugman's Op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times. This is one of the most depressing essays I've ever read. . .mainly because it was all true. And these are the people with whom we are supposed to forge a bond of cooperation? I don't think so. The G.O.P. should be happy with the fact we aren't about to embark on a massive Necktie Party, or pogrom, or a nation-wide Party Cleansing; God knows, they've earned it. As far as cooperating, I think we should "just say no," unless it is most specifically in our best interest. This collage by fellow editor Jack Brummet captures my feelings, exactly, on how to proceed with bipartisanship in today's climate:


click to enlarge
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George W. Bush gets stung (literally) -- The Beehive Theory: a "must see" video by Kees Vander Putten

Kees Vander Putten has just finished a very funny animated video, The Beehive Theory. We're down to The Final Three Weeks. . .what a great time to roll out this summation of our folly in following the leader.

TBT is a satire on George W. Bush's defense and warped theories of the Iraq war. It's short, sweet, and spot-on, with a great soundtrack.

I've met Kees a few times (he's done some animation where I work). He did the entire video on his own (except for creating the soundtrack). Interestingly, Kees is completely self-taught! The video was done in Maya, with a mental ray renderer.

I hope we get more Vander Putten videos soon. Thank you Kees!


The Beehive Theory from Kees Vander Putten on Vimeo.
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Amazing video and story-->> Iraqi newspaperman hucks his shoes at President Bush's head: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog!"

An Iraqi journalist hucked his shoes and hurled the truth lobbed a dog-bomb told The President what most people were actually thinking and insulted President Bush at a press conference in Baghdad yesterday.



As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki's private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush.

Maliki made a protective gesture towards the US president, who ducked and was not hit. We never get to see this in the States--the President ducking as foreign objects hurtle toward his head. [Ed's note: If you can throw two shoes at the President, surrounded by the best security force in the world, we hope Obama limits his public appearances].

Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. In Moslem countries you do not face your shoe bottoms toward anyone.

The journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi from the Al-Baghdadia channel in Cairo, was taken from the room by security forces.

The President later said "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."
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"When Monkeys Fly Out My Butt": George W. Bush and Barbra Streisand Kiss - now that's one awkward smooch!

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Only 44 days of Republican madness remain.

Only 44 days of Republican madness remain. It seems like the longest 44 days, ever.
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Correction/not a retraction: The G20 video was real, but we did a poor job of contextualizing it.

By Jack Brummet and Pablo Fanque

A quick clarification on the story we ran yesterday on President Bush's reception at the G20 Summit, "Is President Bush Suffering From Leprosy?" We were troubled about this story from the get-go. Yes, the video was real. But even as we wrote and posted the story, we knew something wasn't quite right.

Let's face it, these people would shake hands with Papa Doc, Idi Amin, Sirhan Sirhan, Stalin, Carlos the Jackal, Herman Goering, or just about anyone in a position of power if it suited their purposes. Why would they shun W?

Daryle Conners confirmed reading about it later, and I independently realized late Friday night that we were probably seeing a clip of a "photo opportunity." President Bush, Merkel and the other leaders didn't shake hands because they all shalen hands a couple minutes previously. The handshakers were those not at the earlier photo-op. I'm not even going to look it up, because it is absolutely clear this is what happened! We got sucked into the blog/web hysteria on this one like everyone else. We should have known immediately what the context actually was. But it did give the Bush haters a chance to vent one more time (their time is running very short). You should have read the comments section on the HuffPo post on this!

Once in a while a story is just so tantalizing, you run with it (as we did in the summer over the Palin baby rumors that whipped around the internet like a tornado). And why not? After all, we're not some respectable blog with paying customers and advertisers.

When we print something scandalous, we want it to be completely true, or fictional from the ground up. Speaking of which. . .how was The President taken into custody last night when he was supposed to be at G20?
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Did President Bush spend the night at the laughing academy?

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


President George W. Bush was escorted from the East Lawn of the White House late Friday night and taken away in a Secret Service S.U.V. After seeing video clips on YouTube of his performance at the G20 Summit, and later, seeing a staff member reading Pablo Fanque's Friday article on All This Is That, the President reportedly became agitated.

An hour later, near midnight Washington time, George Bush was heard, and then found, outside the White House with a 12 gauge shotgun in one hand and a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon in the other. He was alternately mumbling and howling when security guards approached him, disarmed him, and drove him to an undisclosed location (reportedly the rubber room at the laughing academy--possibly St. Elizabeth's).
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Is President Bush suffering from leprosy?

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Thanks to Daryle Conners for this tip.

In this amazing YouTube video, soon to be Ex-President Bush is snubbed by fellow world leaders at the G20 Summit. It's not like he is actively being shunned; he appears to be literally invisible, except to the camera. It's just a little sad that this guy, who used to Run The Show, has fallen so slow. It's come to this.

Rick Sanchez says that Bush looks like "the most unpopular kid in high school that nobody liked."

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The Palin Phone Call Prank

An Associated Press article came out yesterday, with a transcript of much of the prank phone call to Sarah Palin from a Quebec radio station's "President Nicolas Sarkozy of France." Jump here to read the article. It's pretty good.

click to enlarge the Governor

"Palin praises Sarkozy throughout the call and also mentions his wife, Carla, a model-turned-songwriter.

"You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife," Palin says. "Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of
yours."

The Sarkozy impersonator tells Palin his wife is "so hot in bed" and then informs her that Bruni has written a song for her about Joe the Plumber entitled "Du rouge à lèvres sur une cochonne" - which translates as "lipstick on a pig."

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Parallels between Hitler's Bunker and The John McCain War-room

This may sound a little familiar to anyone who has read an American newspaper in the last month:

"Hitler reviewed the war room maps and moved troops [voters] that didn't exist. And his Generals [Robert Mosbacher, Frederic V. Malek, Jill Hazelbaker,Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, Bill McInturff, et al] knew that the cause was lost but they didn't have the courage to say so.

"German soldiers [that is, Congress and Governors trying to run as Republicans] , including members of the Hitler's youth, were sacrificed to buy just little more time for a regime that controlled a few blocks of Berlin at best. "

"Eva Braun [a/k/a Cindy McCain] was depicted as the lady in waiting as she entertained the inner circle. Beneath the surface of this apparently fun loving woman was a dedicated Nazis who wanted to die with her Fuhrer. She had been the loyal girl friend, sitting in the background and only at the end did she receive her Fuhrer's hand in marriage."

"Propaganda Minister Joel Goebel [a/k/a Senator "Crazy" Joe Lieberman] and his wife, Magda, couldn't imagine a world without Hitler and his National Socialism ideology. They don't even want their own children to be part of just a world, so they kill their own children before ending their own life. There was one surreal scene where Himmler asked an aide whether he should give Eisenhower the Nazis salute or shake his hand as he negotiated Germany surrender. "

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The Obama "Infomercial": A knockout, virtuoso performance

By Pablo Fanque, All This Is That National Affairs Editor
Illustrations: Jack Brummet



Barack Obama's televised "infomercial" was politically brilliant--a virtuoso performance that made it's case intellectually, as well as working the retail politics angle. You'd have to be a hard-hearted American to have not been touched by the message. To view this masterful talk and not be emotionally affected, in place of your beating heart would be a lump of bituminous coal.

Despite the never ending mud-slinging from the other side, all the name-calling, accusing him of "not being one of us," and the bitter invective being hurled from the desperate Republicans, Obama rose above it all and connected with the American people. No one needs to be scared of Obama. This was not the talk of a Molotov-cocktail flinging Bolshevik; this was a fellow American who mostly ignored party politics because he was talking along the heartline. Obama was talking to you. He almost completely ignored partisan politics and John McCain and Sarah Palin. He was there to close the deal with the voters.



I have been highly critical of Obama's cool in the past, and his inability to show emotion. He made up for all that tonight, with six days left in the campaign. His performance reminded me of Bobby Kennedy, who also knew how to connect with the people, and who also knew how to put politics aside. Tonight we saw the real maverick in the race. After this showing ( a speech?, a talk?, a message?, a multimedia assemblage?), if I was John McCain, I'd just concede the race tomorrow.
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Contra: Presidents I have voted against

I have had the distinct pleasure of voting against a large number of Republican Presidential candidates over these last years. I am leaving off the names of those I did vote for. . .they were all Democrats, and frequently I had to hold my nose as I pulled the lever, and later filled in the bubble or poked out the chad on the punchcard.

In retrospect, I was right. Even the weakest candidates we Democrats mounted would have made a better President than the hacks, lapdogs of big business, wardheelers, and feebs we ended up electing. Here's the list of who I have voted against since I reached the age of majority.



When I was 19, I got to vote against Richard M. Nixon (a man I would later come to greatly admire, but would never have voted for in any office higher than dog-catcher). I got to vote in this election because 18, 19, and 20 year olds were granted suffrage by the 26th Amendment to The Constitution, which passed in July 1971.



When I was 23, I had the distinct pleasure of voting against Dick Nixon's successor, Gerald R. Ford, a man I also liked, but couldn't stomach as President. He was a good guy and a weak President. He was President a little over two years.




At 27, I was able to vote against Ronald Reagan for the first time. When I was 31, I got to vote against him one more time.

At 35 years of age, I got to vote against Ronald Reagan's successor George H.W. Bush.

When I hit 39, I was lucky enough to vote against President George H. W. Bush again.



At the ripe old age of 43, I most enjoyed casting my ballot against Senator Bob Dole.

When I was 47 years old, I happily cast my ballot against George W. Bush.

When I turned 51 years old, I was able to vote against W. one more time.



And now, in one week, as I enter the voting booth for the very last time (Washington State will be shifting to mail-in ballots in the near future), at 55 years of age, I will most happily cast my vote against Senator John McCain, a man I sometimes admired a few years ago.

Is this a great country...or what?
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