Molt Be Blog

Alberto Gonzales after throwing the first pitch

During the game

The tarp being taken back in after the first rain delay

What a town! R, her parents and I went to see a Nationals game last night and joined in with the rest of the crowd to boo Attorney General Alberto "Mr. Torture Memo" Gonzales as he threw the first pitch. Only in DC would the crowd know who the Attorney General was, let alone know enough about him to have an opinion on his character. Reeediculous. I was very proud of our section for the amount of booing that went on. The mascot "screech" was more excited and can be seen in the picture on the right breakdancing in the background as Torture Memo shakes hands with the receiver of his pitch. It was a great game, despite the rain. The tarp came out and went back in twice before they finally called it in the 8th... we only stuck around until the beginning of the second delay.
Watched Meet the Press this morning and finally figured out what it takes to be a chief of staff like Andrew Card or a press secretary. All these men really possess is an uncanny ability to never answer a yes or no question with a yes or no answer. They'll tell you that it's more complicated than a yes or no answer, but logically, it's pretty tough to say that there's another answer to some of these questions. A few key ways around the yes or no question that I noticed this morning:
(1) Instead of answering, describe the subject of the question until the questioner becomes bored. This was the case when Card was asked whether or not the president was troubled by the reputation of John Bolton (his nominee for diplomat to the UN). Card proceeded to do what all Bush-lovers are doing on this front and say that Bolton "has a distinguished career" and that "we need a man like Bolton in the UN right now" and that "he's a tough diplomat." Even after Russert pressed him a second time for a yes or no answer on whether or not the president was troubled, a yes or no answer was not forthcoming. I'm not even sure I care if he's troubled, but it seems a bit absurd that Bush or anyone on his staff would admit to him being troubled by one of the people that he nominated. That would be tantamount to admitting a mistake. Which no politician should ever do if they want to remain in politics.
(2) Instead of answering, pass the buck. This was the case when Card was asked about what should be done with Delay and if the president was taking steps to help him. I didn't manage to write down the original yes or no question, but the eventual answer coming out of Card was "that's a matter for the house." This also makes sense politically. Another pass the buck came up on North Korea. On Thursday, Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, explained in testimony to Hillary Clinton, that, were the North Koreans to throw a warhead on a 2 stage missile, they could hit California. Hillary went on to say to the NY Times that this is not something that the North Koreans were able to do before Bush... in essence blaming him for the advancement of the North Koreans. Russert asks Card about this, saying that "this has happened under President Bush's watch" and Card quickly says "or on president Clinton's watch." Then he goes on to explain that we're watching the North Koreans but working with others, shortly before name dropping Japan, South Korea, etc. What I find amusing is that even when he's working with all those helpful people that are so close to N. Korea, Bush still let Kim Jong-Il develop weapons. I'd have to agree with those that say we were a bit too distracted with fake weapons and not distracted enough with the real weapons.
Ok. I'm going to go sit in the sun for a bit.