The Political Rehabilitation of Ari Fleischer
Say, has anyone noticed how omnipresent Ari Fleischer has been, of late? Obviously, the big news is his pimping for a $15 million propaganda campaign in favor of death and destruction.
"For those who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry iscoming," said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who isa founding board member of the group.
But Ari is also, all of a sudden, a seemingly acceptable source of the party line for the beltway media. He’s on Fox News accusing Congress of politicizing DOJ. And he’s dealing that line to the NYT, too.
“This is a reflection of the fact that the Democrats are on theoffensive and have more power than they used to,†Mr. Fleischer saidMonday, referring to Mr. Gonzales’s announcement. “The presidentdoesn’t have a lot of armor left, and the fact that they were able toforce him out is a chink in whatever armor he has left.â€
Ari Fleischer has returned from his political exile in the harsh climes of Pound Ridge, NY, it seems (full disclosure: as a teenager, I was about 5 years behind Ari in the Pound Ridge schools).
Does anyone else find the timing interesting? Not so long ago, Ari was flacking for sports figures, apparently unable or uninterested in getting work in DC. But here he is, less than two months after Scooter Libby’s get out of jail free card, with $15 million of Republican money in his pocket to spend.
Two things may explain the timing. First, Tony Snow is getting ready to bolt the White House. And these uncertain times demand a professional liar, not rank amateurs like Scottie McClellan or Dana Perino. And
face it, Ari Fleischer remains one of the great liars of this Administration full of experienced (if not convincing) liars.
But the timing almost certainly has to do with the damage Ari didn’t do in return for immunity in the CIA Leak case. Sure, Ari did some damage to Libby. But when Fitzgerald bought his pig in a poke, it seemed like he expected–and may have gotten–damaging information on someone else. Ari’s lunch date with Libby was just gravy on the immunized testimony. And now that that other person is out of danger, all of a sudden Ari can rejoin his party as a fully functional member of the propaganda corps.
What most amazes me, though, is that it is as if some bureau somewhere sent out a memo alerting the press–somehow they all discovered at the same time that Ari has been rehabilitated by the party.
Update: Ah geez. Here’s Ari on the Today Show expounding on Larry Craig’s unusual bathroom habits.
Is Ari angling to replace Snow? Would Potus allow this since Ari ratted out his buddy Karl? Or, is he so desperate he will welcome Ari back and shine his bald head?
And wasn’t Ari recently touting the qualities of the metal bat? Is there a metaphor, an apt image lurking here? I know less about sports than I know about, well, you name it, and I don’t know much…
Metal bats only kill a meager amount of kids every year; Ari wants back in the Big Time leagues, where the resultant death toll is astronomical. After all, that is the Bushie definition of success, i.e. where opportunity for profit meets liklihood of death and suffering.
Back in 2001 folks around here called Ari, â€The Deflector.â€
Off topic. Now comes Comey’s ally Jack Goldsmith to testify before Senate Committee (as reported in TPMuckraker).
On September 17, Jack Goldsmith will publish his exposé, â€The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Presidency.â€
It’s a fitting date since September 17 is Albertoady Gonzales’ last day in office. September 17, 2007 is also, notably, Constitution and Citizenship Day, as well as the start of Constitution Week. The Netroots, and each and every one of us here, should do everything we can to make September 17 a HUGE day on every front possible. If we could get Schuster and Olbermann talking this up, as well as any other MSM we can, and all our lethargic Democratic leaders/slugs, maybe we can get something positive accomplished for once.
peace through strength actually means
â€peace through violenceâ€. (or at the very least fear of violence).
It’s an oxymoron for God’s sake!!!
And tell me this…why is it okay to die for and kill for democracy, or defending democracy or some other ’idea’ but if you decide you want to die for peace, (like Jesus, Martin Luther King) then you are a wimp?? Then you are a nut? Then you are evil?
What is wrong with being willing to die for the sake of the long term goal â€peaceâ€? Why is that such an evil, stupid thought? It’s okay to â€kill†for the sake of an idea but not to die for it?
What is so evil about it?? It means you can’t be controlled by anyone else. It means no one can force you to behave against your will, because you will forfeit your life for what you believe, for the greater good. The pacifist is the ultimate bad guy because the pacifist cannot be controlled by fear.
Why don’t people see what Einstein saw? The way we discuss violence is not connected to truth or logic. Not even a little bit.
Ugh.
sorry.
I really hoped we would never see that pesky Ari again. He was a very good, smooth liar and I thought something big was gonna come down. It bothers me that he is fearlessly public again. These people have no shame. But it is starting to feel very incestuous. The same folks harping for the administration. I think they are running out of fresh folks to convince and manipulate. I suppose that’s a good sign. heavy sigh.
Irish soda bread is wearing off.
Take two loaves and call me in the morning. Seriously, I think you make a great point. The truth is that our youth, and our people, are dying anyway both in Iraq and from societal neglect of health, education and welfare at home; why not make it for peace instead of aggressive unilateral unjustified war?
Sure are getting a lot of bang for that 15 mil, covering DOJ as well as Iraq.
Wonder what other departments are suddenly going to have Ari PR’ing for them as well?
Times are tough. There aren’t many people left willing to shill for the devil. Ari might just be an indicator that the scraping of the bottom of the barrel has begun.
Oh, and KJ? I’ll see your two loaves and raise you a Gorgonzola Walnut salad, which I just made a salesguy buy me. Yum. Winger totalitarian politics got you down? A good lunch can restore that positive glow…
I saw Ari on the TeeVee explaining how the new â€They attacked US†ad (image of the second jet hitting the towers, with that quoted caption) does NOT suggest Saddam or Iraq were behind 9/11. It takes a cool reptilian spokesperson to try and sell that. Did his moral sense die at childbirth?
This is the same crew who (with the cooperation of the traditional media) convinced most Americans that Saddam was personally involved with 9/11.
I guess when times get rough, you wheel your â€go to†guy out of retirement.
My mind is boggling at the kind of storm that seems to be closing in on DC…
And the TeeVee robot let that statement go by without any challenge at all, right?
Shameless. It’s no wonder they sling this shit; they know darn well they can and will get away with it, and no one will challenge them beyond a token question—if the token question is asked, it will always be â€balanced†with a winger closing statement, as if it’s this weekend’s college football segment on Sports Center. This hour’s question: how badly will USC beat Idaho? For a view on both sides, we now join…
Gag.
Amen, Katie Jensen.
And take a look at ‘Why Socialism?’ by Albert Einstein. http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm (less than five pages)
The cavalry is coming.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=shepMSwLsQo
Reminds me a bit of a Hungarian origin professor I knew who also bred horses. One day, he had several colleagues over and he dressed in his Hungarian cavalry outfit and got on a horse and after a bit, he drew his functional sword to demonstrate the Hungarian cavalry charge.
Unfortunately all around, his enthusiastic sword unsheathing coincided with the spooked horse’s head toss and said horse’s ear was instantly covered in blood. A horrified silence was broken by a hungarian accent stating sagely – We had a lot of one eared horses in the Hungarian calvary.
I think F-Troop might describe our Democratic leaders. Curiously, the last time I saw a Democratic logo, there was only one ear showing on the jackass. I am thinking Harry Reid was the model…..
Amen, Katie Jensen.
And take a look at ‘Why Socialism?’ by Albert Einstein. http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm (less than five pages)
bmaz – *grin*
F Troop and Democratic Leadersheep. That may be more correct.
I guess if you get immunity for your felonies they don’t necessarily keep you from serving in the cavalry. Now, if someone can just explain slowly and quietly to Ari why a cavalry charge over a road filled with ieds might not be a good idea, then I’m sure his war will be happily ever after.
bmaz – here’s one that does portray the Dems in Congress – as Bush’s little sidekicks.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YmI…..38;search=
You know, like in F troop where Forrest Tucker[Bush] tells his lil sidekick Storch [Dems in Congress] you are too wearing that dress and Dems are all like no, no way, never, under no circumstances will we ever ever wear that {fade out} and then you smile bc you know that in the next scene {fade in}Storch [Dems]appear wearing dress the Dems will be obligingly doing just what Bush told them to do and if they are Hillary, also enthusing over how much SAFER we are with Papa Bush telling her what to wear.
If they keep repeating that Saddam and 9/11 thing, then we oughta be able to counter with an attack on Ireland (yep, Ireland) since the company which screwed us in Florida during the 2000 presidential election was an Irish company whose owner had close ties to Gov. JEBbie Bush.
They were also involved in the recall election of California which tossed out Gray Davis and installed Arnold Schwarzenegger!
At bradblog.com you can check out all you ever wanted to know about electronic voting machines and their misuse.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4994
Yes, EW, it did catch my attention that Ari Goebbers, er Fleischer, was at the spin machine again. In his role as Press Secretary he was quick with the US V Them metaphors. Poor Scotty McClellan just didn’t live up to the Fleischer. SnonyToe hasn’t done as well, but he’s at least a true believer and they are easy to get as Spokesmen.
This new tactless campaign by AF and crew shouldn’t surprise us, as it should serve to show us how despirate they are now to convince people there even is an Iraq and that Iran is the great Satan.
What next?
Yes, but will they let him eat some of those notorious weenies? Isn’t that what he really wants?
JEP – Are you referring to Ari or Larry (Craig)?
Over at The CarpetBagger Report, we have noted that Mr. Fleischer reappears with Jerry/Jeff Gannon/Guckert and Rove disappears all at the same time. Coincidence?
it seemed like he expected–and may have gotten–damaging information on someone else.
But don’t we pretty much know – the other part of his testimony was about Bartlett, which presumably brought things closer to Bush, at least potentially. The clever rightwinger points out that the testimony about Libby defused a bit the role of Bartlett in telling Ari about Plame and possibly in directing him to leak her identity to reporters. But Fleischer’s testimony about that part was so muddled that it certainly didn’t do any damage . Is there something else?
Pound Ridge! Who knew you were a Westchester kid!
Watson,
Great article. Yes, yes. Community service is the key to harmony. (AA slogan) Isolation is the urge and depression is the result. When people give of themselves they get a lift, a shot of adrenaline like with exercise. It’s part of what makes AA effective as well as other programs that have attained a measure of success. It’s good for us to give. The things we know work for human mental health without regard to culture are
1) socializing…not isolation
2) exercise…movement, not sedentary.
3) giving and sacrifice for others…because we want to not because we are forced to do so.
4) being effective in communicating and getting along with others.
These things make us happy, and yet, because of our desire to be independent and attend to our individual ego, we feel the burden of this â€effectivenessâ€. We rebel against these realities. We refuse to accept what works. It’s no accident that the alcoholic is a rebellious soul and that what starts to be a social drink ends for some a drink of isolation.
Mother nature, the universe will validate what works. It’s probably no accident that america no longer offers the highest quality of life. WE are destined to fall, unless we moderate our capitalism with some socialism.
Everyone from top to bottom has consequences for capitalism that goes unchecked by social concerns. Just like we saw the fall of communism, so too will we see the fall of unchecked capitalism, unless it is balanced by meeting the needs of the greater whole.
Being overly wealthy, and overly attractive is invalidating. And this has been shown to contribute to personality disorders and emotional dysregulation. This is why being super rich does not equate with super happy. It’s invalidating to be overly wealthy if you never have to â€perform†and if you feel you have not â€earned†your position of wealth. The need for professional volunteerism in the lives of the super wealthy is part of survival.
The super wealthy, like the super â€attractive†never know if people like them for the substance of who they are, or because of these other factors that they did not â€earnâ€. Same is true for the hollywood star who’s popularity is not supported by the work and talent. Lotto winners have a pretty long history of tragedy as well.
So perhaps these Bush days had to come. Maybe americans needed a glimpse of what happens when we sway too far in one direction or the other. Hopefully, the american people will see through the control of media, the subterfuge and will make a decision not to return power to that end of the spectrum again for a long time.
Thanks for the link and allowing the rant.
KJ and Watson – When I was an undergraduate, believe it or not, I was in an extremely intensive scientific curriculum (mostly forgotten now). At any rate, I participated in bio-physiological studies of altruism. Turns out it affects, in a general sense, the same responses, and inferentially at the time, same areas of the brain and stimulus modalities, as pleasure stimulus. I am not stating it well, but basically, humans derive physiological pleasure from altruistic helping actions. It is not solely mental; and it is a very good thing. This has been an update from the Department of Duh.
Ari may be looking at the NY-19 congressional seat, though I doubt he can raise the money to take it. Also, that district isn’t going to get any redder than it is right now, what with the shifting sub- and exurban demographic trends. It’s going blue, and Hall is raising a ton of money.
So what besides NY-19 could Ari be gearing up to do?
Jeff
Well, I just passed through Westchester. Believe me, my pedigree would not make me a Westchester kid.
BUt I think it has to be more than Bartlett–indeed, Ari’s testimony would suggest it wasn’t Bartlett, since he only vented in Ari’s presence, he did not direct him to do or say anything.
Keep in mind that Ari was actively involved in negotiations between CIA and WH. Which means he coudl have something on Rove (likely) or Condi.
Bmaz, (to the department of duh), there was just a study out that was linked on the welcome page of aol, just within the week of exactly what you stated. (I was too lazy and hung over from soda bread to link to the article) Altruism can be shown to stimulate the same part of the brain that lights up when under the influence of drugs, alcohol, food, sex, and exercise. Pretty amazing. Yes, it’s good for us. Einstein was a pretty smart dude.
It amazes me how his physics continues to be validated. How far out in front of our collective knowledge he was. We really need a paradigm shift of the Thomas Kuhn type.
Thanks for the discussion
emptywheel
That could be, I suppose, but we don’t have any positive indication of it, do we? I mean, in addition to the venting, Fleischer described discussing making calls to journalists with Bartlett before he went on to call several print reporters, including Pincus. And we got no indication in his testimony that any relevant event happened between hearing from Bartlett about Plame and then telling (perhaps) Dickerson and Gregory. And don’t you think that if Rove had directed Fleischer or something like that, the defense would have brought it out?
I defer the details to empty wheel but there was something in the trial that gave me the â€feel†(sorry to the detail folks) that Ari and Rove were pitted against each other. I can’t remember if there were actual facts that made me think this or if it was just my â€intuition or wishful thinkingâ€. But I remember having that thought process that Ari did not like Rove.
I think I fantasized that it was because Ari knew the president was involved and Rove was â€the protector for the pres.†I think I made a big leap that didn’t have the steps to support it but because Ari and pres were on the plane with the cia report bearing Plames name and info, and then there was the Ari disclosure to Gregory within potential ear shot of pres, that I fantasized this tension. Ari was given immunity, but his testimony didn’t really fit into the Rove story. But if my fantasy were true it would not explain why Ari is back in black. I remember thinking that Ari refused to take the fall. I still don’t understand how Rove wriggled free. Why he was allowed to change his testimony so many times.
I remember also feeling that there was something weird about Ari stepping down, and then writing that book that was ass kissing extraordinaire after he stepped down. I kept thinking, he knows how evil they are but he is actively defending them. Why? What is he getting from this? Was this some kind of a deal? Back then there had been several folks who had stepped down and then written tell all negative books. (Paul O’neil, Risen, etc…) It stuck out to me at the time. It wasn’t the norm for the folks stepping down when Ari did to be writing supportive books. I thought it was weird. Orchestrated. Planned.
Loose thinking.
Jeff
The question is what would Libby have gotten in discovery? Fitz argued strongly against giving anything that didn’t directly pertain to conversations with Libby. While I’m sure they had to give a good deal of detail on Ari bc of the immunity deal, that does not have to include all of his testimony (though I am wondering, then, how they learned about Bartlett).
Someone was communicating with AF1 all week, not least about the strategy to go after the trip report (which is something that Ari testified about). It’s just not clear who that person was.
EW, I thought you might like to know that Ari started his PR activities (AFAIK) in Albuquerque, working for Rep. Lujan, I think. Perhaps Domenici at some point, before he went to TX to work for W.
He had a band, the New Stetl Band.
He was also in Boston, sometime prior to NM and knew people there who I met later.
So W and Domenici have other things in common, besides Iglesias.
emptywheel
Yes, that did occur to me. But I am sort of assuming that between discovery, what they got because of the immunity, and then whatever they got through Giglio or whatever – I mean, isn’t it the case that all they had to do was put Rove and Bartlett on the really probable witness list and they get all kinds of stuff, especially since I think the prosecution was giving them that stuff before the trial started, long before right after the witness testifies, which is I think all that is strictly required. And if I remember correctly, there was an Isikoff story about how Rove and Bartlett had been issued trial subpoenas or some kind of notice that they might be required by the defense to appear. It always seemed unlikely, but the point is that that would have gotten the defense more information.