Joe Klein in Tomorrow's TIME: Bush 'Clearly Unfit to Lead'

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003567882

In the upcoming issue of Time magazine, out Friday, columnist Joe Klein considers what he calls the Bush administration’s “epic collapse.” He concludes with a statement that may make some wonder if he is hinting that the president ought to be impeached.

Klein claims, in referring to the president, that he has “tried to be respectful of the man and the office” but now he recognizes that the “defining sins” of his administration “are congenital: they’re part of his personality. They’re not likely to change. And it is increasingly difficult to imagine yet another two years of slow bleed with a leader so clearly unfit to lead.”

The Time columnist declares that the three major Bush problems of the year “precisely illuminate the three qualities that make this Administration one of the worst in American history: arrogance (the surge), incompetence (Walter Reed) and cynicism (the U.S. Attorneys).

Klein considers Attorneygate, compared to the others, to be “a relatively minor matter.” Still, it is an area where Karl Rove “has corrupted a policy area – like national security—that should be off-limits to political operators.”

[Bunny]

1. Well, Joe. Glad to see you've finally gotten wise.

Took you long enough. :eyes:

[underpants]

3. Joe wets his finger and sticks up into the wind

More likely that he read his swizzle stick and saw that he was the last one at the bar to not write on the bungling flustercuck that is Bush

"mistakes were made"

[glitch]

55. Excellent, that means the wind is finally picking up and blowing our way. nt

[SharonAnn]

23. He didn't know this before now? Sheesh, I knew it in 1999 when * started running.

I read some background information on him, old newspaper articles, analyses of his business "experience" and I knew what he was like.

[jhrobbins]

44. I was a 'huge' Ann RIchards supporter here in Texas

and was disappointed when she lost to GWB for governor, but I was not afraid of and upset about GWB as I came to be. The pivotal moment for me was early in the campaign when Tucker Carlson asked GWB in an interview what he thought Karla Faye Tucker ( you may remember her as a convicted Murderer, turned born again Christian-and from all accounts,it was a real conversion) might say to him and this 'devout Christian' mocked her in a high voice , saying 'Pleasse don't kill me'. At that moment, I knew exactly what kind of man GWB was - he was little evolved from the miscreant bully that put firecrackers down frog's mouths to watch them explode!!!!!

[gratefultobelib]

71. I remember reading about this incident and being absolutely sickened by his

reaction. Was this before or after "compassionate conservative" had been coined, do you think?

[ClintonTyree]

53. I don't know how anyone....

who did even a cursory examination of Bush's background could have thought he'd make a good Governor, let alone President of the United States. He truly is the storied, "fortunate son": a man who, on his own merit and personality, would never be elected as a city councilman. His fathers friends and their finances are the only reason this pitiful failure of a human being has achieved anything in his life. It's a damning indictment of American politics that voters will chose form over substance if that substance is cleverly marketed and backed by "the right" people.
Bush isn't capable of successfully managing a 7-11, but here we find him, President of our nation. It's frightening how easily fooled our citizens are. :scared:

[Tesha]

81. The truth is, the Powers That Be didn't care.

> I don't know how anyone who did even a cursory examination
> of Bush's background could have thought he'd make a good
> Governor, let alone President of the United States.

The truth is, the Powers That Be didn't care. They knew
GWB would be compliant in helping them get their way
and that he was electable by the sheep that vote in this
country.

And that's all that mattered.

Tesha

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Not exactly latest breaking news, but Klein caught up to us.

[H2O Man]

6. Right. n/t

[deutsey]

4. As Mr. Tudball used to say:

"Mr. a-Klein, tank-a yew for datta news-a flash!"

:eyes:

[calimary]

61. "...Mrs. a-Wiggins..." LOL!

I didn't know anybody remembered that.

Funny you should bring up that old skit. Either character in it is more qualified to be president of the United States than the swine in there now.

And as for Joe Klein - nice of you to wake up, finally, Klein. Drugs they gave you finally wear off?

[BeyondGeography]

5. And this wasn't obvious from the start?

Oh, to summon up the memories of the MSM coverage of the 2000 campaign, when, somehow, we all knew we were looking at a maladjusted child monster who would lead us to hell and the media, well, Bush was so much more "natural" than Gore to them. Klein was right there with the rest of them, trashing Gore and giving a free pass to Junior.

Does Joe gets to keep his Kool Kidz membership card now that he's piling on The Decider?

[PinkyisBlue]

22. And the media asked questions like,"who would you rather have a beer with,

George Bush or Al Gore"?, like that was how one should choose a president.

Our country could have saved itself billions and billions of dollars, thousands of dead and maimed soldiers, rollback of civil rights, environmental degradation, etc., etc. if the media had not been complicit in "packaging" George Bush as a viable candidate. Joe Klein was a part of all of that.

[bdamomma]

33. geez, that is truly disgusting, why do they talk and treat us like

idiots, just because we have a pResident who is not all of us are idiots!!!!

[PurpleChez]

52. I'd have rather had a beer with Al Gore.

Any day. I don't want to drink with an idiot.

[Cha]

25. You mean his

"press bitch" card?

[hang a left]

7. Sorry RL didn't see your post. I looked first but while putting together

the post, you beat me.

I will self-delete.

[blm]

8. That was apparent during the presidential debates Joe, but you and rest of DC presscorps still

insisted on protecting Bush's image for him and for your corporate masters who wanted him to stay in the WH.

[calimary]

64. Maybe our friend Joe was just a little too anxious to get one of those

nice, folksy, cutesy new nicknames the idiot was handing out to favored vassals. He had his presidential kneepads on, securely, back then. Maybe they've just started getting too tight and threatening his circulation.

This kind of thing is sort of okay, but WAY too little too late. Where were you with this epiphany when we needed you, Joe? Cold comfort now, thankyouverymuch.

The only good thing about it is his statement that laments about two more miserable years of this arrogant, cynical incompetence and wondering whether our nation can take it. THAT kind of statement and THAT type of thinking is what will help speed things up toward IMPEACHMENT.

Get them questioning, seriously, and openly voicing their concern, even fear, about leaving bush in charge until the end of his term. Then some of 'em might actually start doing something constructive about it.

[Initech]

9. Amazing that ultra-conservative Time Magazine would print that!

Coming from a magazine that's had Jesus on the cover more times than the Focus On The Family weekly mailer, I'm really surprised! :wow:

[TwilightGardener]

40. Was Jesus a conservative?

[weezy2736]

45. fiscally, yes

:)

[TwilightGardener]

49. BWAH! He WAS pretty frugal with those loaves and fishes--managed

to have enough for everyone...and he lived on the cheap, in general.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

51. The guy who said rich people went to hell?

Sure doesn't strike me as conservative.

:shrug:

[weezy2736]

85. Ah, no, more the dictionary definition of conserve, I guess.

[Ghost in the Machine]

60. of *course* he was.... Jesus SAVES! .n/t

[NastyDiaper]

10. congenital: Queen Bush Mum to Blame.

Bush confuses strength with stubbornness.
He confuses knowledge with faith.
Bush confuses success with entitlement.
and the son of a Bitch argues like an un-recovered alcoholic.

Apologies for the rep, just seemed appropriate.

[WinkyDink]

11. I wonder why he's limiting himself to only the latest news. Oh, wait....

Maybe it's that JK et al. deliberately overlooked---and continue to overlook---the PNAC; Halliburton; the HUGH!!11 Baghdad U.S. embassy; PLAMEfergawdsake; Katrina WARNINGS; 9/11 WARNINGS; WMD's and yellowcake uranium lies; TORTURE and secret "renderings"; the dissolution of Habeas Corpus; Guantanamo; the Medicare debacle; the soaring deficit; etc., etc., et frickin' cetera.

[blm]

24. Don't forget Downing Street Memos and Tora Bora.

.

[Arugula Latte]

59. Oh, see, he had other really important things to do then -- like scold the angry left

for being too shrill and unseemly on the Internets ... :eyes:

[Botany]

12. No really?

Way to get on the story Joe.

Bush incompetent? The failed businesses, the 1 year of community service for coke,
the drinking, his stupidity, his theft of two elections, Iraq, 9-11, his utter lack of understanding
of world events, his criminal record, his way of speaking, .....

Gee, Joe want to get on the moon landing story too?

[WinkyDink]

13. I think he's hot on the Kitty Hawk scoop......

[Botany]

27. I just saw your post above mine ...

.... The list of bush's fuck ups, crimes, and bad moves is massive.

I remember in 2000 around thanksgiving when bush was asked about Cheney who
just had a heart attack his eyes looked around the room, he licked his lips, stammered,
and then said, "He is fine ah ah ah doing well ah ah he is fine."

I was w/ 2 dear friends and we all looked @ each other and laughed. We knew then that
we were fucked.

But our long national nightmare is coming to an end. bush & Cheney's sea going ship of
crooks & fools have hit the iceberg and their fate is sealed.

BTW Did you see this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x582783

Ohio 04 is about to come back in a big way.

[WinkyDink]

31. Holy-moly! Maybe those mills are speeding up their grinding! Back to Klein:

My message to him is: You helped loose the dogs of war. Your paltry words now mock the dead, the infirm, the homeless, the betrayed, the poor, and the brave.

[myrna minx]

14. Finally the media is catching up with the rest of us. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. They are distancing from the boy who wanted to be king

but don't fool yourselves, only becuase the little fascist has failed. They are fascists to the core

[WinkyDink]

16. But the NARROWING of this criminality to BUSH is STILL aiding and abetting the treasonous Republican

Party.

[mdmc]

17. 5th R for the growth of Joe

:hi:

[Jacobin]

18. News Alert!!!

Joe Klein just awoke from the Brain Dead!!!

[frogcycle]

77. bullshit

he said theres no impeachable offenses

he's still brain dead, masquerading as a sentient human being

[Cha]

19. joe klein helped put bush in

there..is there a fucking apology that comes with that obvious statement?

"Bush 'Clearly Unfit to Lead'"

Dum de Dum DUM DUM..

[bdamomma]

20. I want to hear more of them say this

UNFIT TO LEAD

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. HUH? And this is news to who?

Joe finally got a clue!:wow:

[Control-Z]

26. It took him more than 6 years

to figure this out? Oh. My.

Better late than never, I suppose.

[SusanaMontana41]

28. Haven't you all had the feeling

that for a long time we were the only ones looking out the window?

Welcome to the world, JK.

[Mme. Defarge]

29. "Epic collapse" ...

This is MSM language that begins to describe the magnitude and gravity of our current situation created by Bush's Putsch.

[formercia]

30. The King has no clothes

the coterie finally awakes.

[Bob3]

32. So Joe, those uncivil and foul mouthed bloggers were right again

like they were about Iraq about the US Attorney scandal about oh everything.

Joe is just another rat over the side. Still this makes you wonder if the K Street/Beltway/big money forever folks are thinking about tossing * under the bus to keep their phony baloney jobs.

[americanstranger]

36. Well, he still thinks LamGate is no biggie.

I guess he can only come to one realization at a time.

- as

[KoKo]

34. Rat Jumping Ship Scenario. He has to jump because he likes the

power and money being a Great Pundit. He and Tom Friedman probably pal around together. Now we have to listen or read his bloviations when in fact there are other writers out there (not well known)who should be the ones getting credit and being quoted as more credible Pundits than that Klein hack who makes his money off of "turncoating." First Clinton where he wrote that book Primary Colors where he passed it off as anonymous until his little secret was revealed by himself...and now he jumps off the Repug ship when it's in danger of going down. Disgusting.

[Lord Balto]

89. My Money Is On the Sharks.

Yummy. Another juicy Republican fatass is jumping ship.

[bunkerbuster1]

35. Joke Line, are you prepared to acknowledge that the dirty hippies were right?

that'd be nice.

[Elidor]

37. “a relatively minor matter”

Using the justice department as a political tool to overlook republican lawbreaking and to promote bogus democratic "voter fraud" indictments is hardly a relatively minor matter.

A day late, a dollar short, and still very much a tool.

[RedEarth]

38. I certainly agree..........the only difference is that I thought shrub

was unfit to lead six years ago.

[Maestro]

39. Goodness gracious!

I am with the others here. Even though I am glad to see Time doing this, I could have told you this six years ago. :eyes:

[Crunchy Frog]

41. And it only took him six years to figure it out?

:think:

[Diane R]

42. So what are all these former Bush enablers going to do to fix the mess they caused?

[calimary]

66. Well, Matthew Dowd thinks maybe we'll all see him wandering in

the wilderness of Africa - helping the poor or some such thing.

Why do I hear echoes of "Out, damned spot!!!"?

[zippy890]

43. Joe Klein trying desperately to remain relevant

by stating the obvious.

bit late Joe.

[displacedtexan]

46. Primary Colors II?

How many presidents will Joe trash for his own financial benefit?

[Hippo_Tron]

74. To be fair, Primary Colors was very good if you accept it as fictional

It points out that politicians, even Democrats, are sleazy and that idealists have to make a decision to either accept that or get out of politics.

If you just focus on the book/movie as a highly exaggerated portrayal of Bill Clinton, then it sucks.

[GOTV]

47. And I suppose he's ready to work against Bush's re-election now?

Nice try Joe. A lot of fucking good it does now.

The important issue is not Bush's incompetence but Joe Klein's incompetence.

Will he start all his articles with the disclaimer "Note: I supported George W Bush and am therefore certifiably unfit to comment on national affairs" before any article that comments on national affairs?

What will he do to compensate the nation for the damage he caused?

[tblue37]

48. If he thinks the attorney firings are relatively minor,

then he is a total ignoramus with no understanding of the law or of the constitutional issues involved.

What a blithering idiot. Klein is so stupid he could run for president on the GOP ticket.

[glitch]

57. "so stupid he could run for president on the GOP ticket" that's a keeper nt

[Handsome Pete]

50. Better late than never....

Still, 6 yrs is pretty d*mned late. Took me until very early 2002 to come to my senses and switch parties.

Just saying

[calimary]

65. Welcome to DU! And welcome, also, to the Side of the Light!

Glad you're here with us.

Took you far less time to figure it out than a lot of people, including Joe Klein (and Matthew Dowd, ever the dedicated and scheming strategist and loyal bushbot until his son was about to be shipped off to Iraq). Funny how a good dose of reality can slap people awake, but then again, people like these two sometimes have to be hit across the face with a 2x4.

[19jet54]

54. Amen & Amen!

:kick:

[hatrack]

56. Joe Klein finally discovers the whereabouts of the sky

Video at 11:00.

[Ilsa]

58. Those of us who knew George W* before 2000 tried to explain

this to people, but they chose to believe the image hologrammed by the campaign. They chose to believe a campaign, not a history of real behavior.

[JCMach1]

63. Bingo... anyone who saw this prick in TX....

[BuelahWitch]

72. I saw the prick on TV in Utah in 2000 and I knew he was a joke

I couldn't believe the Repugs were serious about running him.

[malaise]

62. Better late than never

Welcome to the light.

[shance]

67. Of course, Mr. Joe Riskaversive attempts to grand stand us with this amazing news.

Bush is simply the symptom to the tremendously bad and ammoral leadership we are witnessing overall.

[senseandsensibility]

68. These idiots in the corporate media, and specifically

Joe Klein, make me sick. He is mentally unfit to be a journalist if he is just realizing this now. How embarrassing for him to admit what we have all known for six years. He is obviously too dull witted to be embarrassed, though.

[Blue_Tires]

69. i think TIME will be publicly asking for impeachment in Oct. '08

[Justyce]

86. I don't understand why all of a sudden

the media is pushing impeachment after covering for them for so long... almost makes me wonder if it's not to get Cheney as pres., and let him choose another VP to put them in a better position to hold onto the white house running that VP for repub. pres. next election...?? probably paranoid, but I have a hard time trusting much coming from our media these days, and I certainly question their intentions.

[disndat]

70. J.K. must have more than his finger up in the air

This issue of Time magazine is coming out, just as the Congressional investigations are about to resume. The Bush/Cheney/Rove house of cards must be expected to go up in flames, and soon.

[Jack Rabbit]

73. Klein's piece is posted in editorials

Please click here.

[mnhtnbb]

75. Molly to Joe: "I told you so"

[truth2power]

76. Plus, he's mentally ill. n/t

[EVDebs]

78. Attorney-gate 'relatively minor matter'...like Watergate, a relatively minor burglary LOL !

[Quantess]

79. OK, well, yes, Bush is clearly unfit

...to hold any position of importance.
Bush is the most impeachable President that has ever held office!

"He concludes with a statement that may make some wonder if he is hinting that the president ought to be impeached."
Duh! Does someone need a 2x4 smack to the noggin? :eyes:

[Babel_17]

80. The article is now online

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1607243,00.html

[tinfoilinfor2005]

88. Thanks! I wonder if that is why Klein snapped at Andrea Mitchell

on the Sunday Chris Mathews show. She stated flatly that Petraeus told congress that there would be definite results in Iraq by August, and Klein insisted, "No, he did not." She repeated it and he said "NO!" He tried to explain but of course old Tweety didn't let him finish. I wonder now, reading the article, whether he wasn't alluding to Petraeus' words regarding a political solution. Interesting.

[JAbuchan08]

82. It sure would be tragic if we ended up electing him in 2000

I'm glad we dodged that bullet.

[FredStembottom]

83. Maybe the American Oligarcy is finally getting fed up?

The pseudo-fascism is fine, of course - but perhaps they hadn't forseen the incompetence and now find Bush embarrassing.

If they right few people (none of the Democrats)conclude this, Bush will be out of office 15 minutes later.

[milkyway]

84. The Human Fencepost is indicating that the majority of public want impeachment.

Think of how much it must hurt Klein to have a fencepost permanently stuck up his ass.

[buddinganarchist]

87. Joe Klein used to love Bush.

Never trust these Liberals who hate liberals liberals, types. This is a guy who makes a mint trashing the left. Klein is just jumping on the bandwagon. It takes more guts to keep siding with our Chimp in the oval dungheap.

[TommyPaine]

90. There is no 'collapse'. The house was rotted-out from the start.

Wow, I'm glad Joey-boy finally figured this out. I've known this since, oh, 1994 or so. But now that it's safer than ever to condemn Shrubby he's merrily jumping on the bandwagon. Where was this outpouring prior to the 2004 election when it would've made a difference?