Fait Accompli

Continuing my countdown of the Last 100 Days:

#95. Mission Unaccomplished. I figured this one would make it in the top 20, but I was reminded that today (October 20, 2008) marks the 2,000th day since W claimed major combat was over in Iraq. I figured today was as good a day as any to mark this shameful, disgusting event. Let's not spend a lot of time here, since most of this is common knowledge now (although the stunt was also clearly known when people reelected him in 2004 - which means people probably just figured since the banner was not mispelled that he was not all that bad...?)

Okay, what we know. The use of a jet was pure theater. The carrier was close enough for the standard helicopter landing. Safer to carry the Leader of the Free World, but hey, Reagan played a combat pilot in a movie and then retold its plotlines as wartime anecdotes for years.
As it was immediately apparent that combat operations were really just warming up, the White House and Bush himself claimed for months that the banner was put up, unbeknownst to them, by the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Lie. And, more shameful, that they tried to put the blame on the troops. Again, this was clear in 2004 when Republicans everywhere hailed their party as being so patriotic and pro-soldier. Still he was reelected.

Finally, we know just how stupid this arrogant photo-op blunder ended up being, as the months following the event were the deadliest for American soldiers in Iraq. Over 4,000 have died since, and we have more troops there today than we did on May 1, 2003. And to think, he even made the mission accomplished claim a month later to troops in Qatar. The 20th of January can only bring a better outlook for our military – no matter who is elected.

#94. James Tobin. In 2002 the Bush White House was involved in a phone-jamming scheme when Tobin’s firm doused voter turn-out efforts by Democrats in the gubernatorial election in New Hampshire. After successfully blocking phone calls by the Dems, John E. Sununu, the Republican candidate, won a narrow victory over Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Turns out, they all got caught and some even went to prison. Oddly, what has never been prosecuted is the fact that Tobin and a White House staffer made tons of calls to each other on the day of the jammy jam. Why was a WH employee calling and taking calls from a political operative paid for by the GOP? That employee was Ken Mehlman. He lied about the phone calls. He got promoted to head the RNC.