Conservatives repeated Bush administration’s misleading comparison between explosives, other munitions

Media conservatives have echoed the Bush administration’s misleading argument that the reported 380 tons of explosives that went missing from the Al Qaqaa facility in Iraq pales in comparison to the reported 405,944 tons of munitions that have been captured in Iraq so far. In fact, explosives — many of which were reportedly in the form of white powder — weigh far less than some other types of “munitions,” which include explosives, but also “rockets, guided and ballistic missiles, bombs … grenades, mines, torpedoes … and devices and components thereof,” according to the Pentagon.

Moreover, one pound of C-4 plastic explosive — of which HMX and RDX, the missing explosives, are key ingredients — was enough to blow up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, as an October 25 Associated Press story noted.

Nonetheless, Vice President Dick Cheney has advanced this misleading comparison, and media conservatives have dutifully repeated it. On October 26, Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Senator John Kerry, saying Kerry “doesn’t mention … the 400,000 tons of weapons and explosives that our troops have captured and are destroying.” The next day, the Pentagon released two pages of talking points in which it asserted “that the missing explosives are ‘less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the 400,000 tons of total munitions coalition forces have destroyed or lined up to destroy,'” according to an October 28 Washington Times article. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice underscored this point in an October 28 radio interview: “370 tons is a lot, but 400,000 tons is really a lot.”

But the administration is not just making a misleading comparison between tons of powder and hundreds of thousands of tons of artillery shells, bombs, and other ammunition. It is also neglecting a far more apt comparison — between the ammunition captured and the hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition that are thought to exist but have not been captured. As the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out: “At least another 250,000 tons from Saddam’s regime remain unaccounted for, and some has undoubtedly fallen into the hands of insurgents.”

Sorry about the lengthy quote, I just can’t believe the people out there that refuse to think for themselves and look for the facts on this.

I should note that anything, ANYTHING printed in the Washington Times should be taken with a very large grain of salt (25# salt-lick block recommended). It was founded by members of the Unification Church.

The Washington Times Foundation, a charitable organ/front of some sort, are the same fine folks that brought us the coronation ceremony of Sun Myung Moon and his wife in the Dirksen Senate Office Building earlier this year. Several elected Congresscritters and Senators were in attendance at different points, but to their credit most left quickly when they realized it was some sort of Moonie publicity stunt. My own Congresscritter, Phil Crane, was listed as a member of the “Host Committee,” but in his typical do-nothing way failed to have any real connection with the festivities and didn’t show up (most attendees thought it was a reception honoring various people, and thus only showed up for the refreshments). Apprently, they were all sent “opt-out” invitation letters, and their names might appear on the official invitations unless they specifically said they weren’t attending.

That’s it! It’s like spam for the mind! The vast unthinking masses suck it up without question, ordering more and more political V*gara to keep their shpirits up. The Rethugnicans (not the Grand Old Republicans of yore, but the Neo-con Rethugnicans) are taking tactics out of the mind-control Moonies’ playbook. Why didn’t I think of that?

The fact that the Pentagon released its “400,000 tons” talking points memo via the WT is… interesting. And all the conservative pundits are lined up to endlessly repeat the same misleading, incomplete, and willfully untruthful figures, so that the unthinking believers are calmed and justified in their mindless faith.

My God. What have we come to?

For 23 years, Carol Sheehan and her husband, Frank, have lived in the same Holladay neighborhood and their politics have remained about as constant as their address.

“My ballot is so stiff it doesn’t bend,” Carol Sheehan said. “It is very straight Democrat.”

But Thursday, her right to place that Democratic vote was challenged by a Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives – who also challenged the legal registration of 1,495 other residents in House District 37.

Republican candidate Brice Derek Carsno claims all of those residents do not live in the precincts they are registered in and therefore should not have the right to punch a ballot Tuesday.

State and county election officials, however, disagree and at least one says Carsno’s challenge could be criminal.

“There is no validity to his claims,” Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said Saturday. “It looks to me like what he has done is challenge everyone with another political affiliation than his own.”

He probably just wants to play like the big boys in the swing states. It’s an elegant solution – just challenge every damn Democrat and third-party voter in your district.

Various Republican officials, such as the state elections officer, have condemned the move as “over the top.” The Democratic county clerk may persue misdemeanor voter intimidation charges – possibly even federal charges, since it’s during a presidential election year.

The latter is probably over the top. If he were challenging all those horrible, fishy Demos on behalf of the national campaign, that would be one thing, but Utah will likely turn in the lowest numbers for Kerry, just as they returned the lowest numbers for Gore of any state in the 2000 election.

Perhaps this guy is running scared, as the incumbent he’s campaigning against is a Democrat, and a woman.

Go, District 37! I wonder if that’s my sister Timmy’s district. If so, I wonder if she’s on that list.

The Nation publishes 100 Facts and 1 Opinion with a handy link to a PDF file to be downloaded and distributed as necessary.

Very inconvenient, these facts. Likely to bring Bushco to its knees in the end.

If after reading these 100 facts, which each have links to news stories backing them up, anyone still undecided will never decide.

From Salon.com (subscription or ad-nag screen), apparent proof that for some purposes Bushco does not oppose cloning. Such as, making it appear as if a very large crowd of soldiers has got your back.

Joe Lockhart of the Kerry campaign responds:

“Now we know why this ad is named ‘Whatever it Takes.’ This administration has always had a problem telling the truth, from Iraq to jobs to health care. The Bush campaign’s advertising has been consistently dishonest in what they say. But today, it’s been exposed for being dishonest about what we see.

“If they won’t tell the truth in an ad, they won’t tell the truth about anything else. This doctored commercial is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of the American people. The Bush campaign has no choice but to take this ad down immediately and issue an apology for its latest attempt to mislead the American people. Unless George Bush has changed his position on human cloning, it’s got to pull this fundamentally dishonest ad immediately.”

P.S. Not one of the 80,000 people at the Bruce Springsteen concert in Madison, WI had a ticket! Not one signed a loyalty oath! And I don’t think there’s any Photoshopping in this picture. Maybe that’s why the Rethugnicans think we progressive liberrrrls are amateurs.

Boing Boing makes the Beeb: their item on the official website of Resident W blocking international visitors showed up on the BBC News website.

It seems they found the information about alternate ways to access the site useful.

Yep, that’s the Resident. This was back when he was governor of Texas. If you click on the image, the clip should play (but it’s from Salon.com, so it may throw you into a nag screen first).

Kinda makes you wonder whether that smirking badass fratboy still roams the halls of the White House after the handlers have left for the day.