"A furious George (Clooney) hits gutless Dems"

NY Daily News gossip column, "Lowdown," Lloyd Grove
A furious George hits gutless Dems


George Clooney has a message for Democratic office-holders who voted for the war in Iraq, only to claim later that they'd been misled by President Bush:
"F— you!"

The movie star's argument — directed at the likes of presidential wannabes Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry and John Edwards — is actually more nuanced than that.

But not by much.

"The fear of being criticized can be paralyzing," Clooney writes today on Huffingtonpost.com — pumping up the volume after banging the drum of Hollywood liberalism in his Oscar acceptance speech.

"Just look at the way so many Democrats caved in the runup to the war. In 2003, a lot of us were saying, where is the link between Saddam and Bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? We knew it was bulls—.

"Which is why it drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, 'We were misled.' It makes me want to shout, 'F— you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.'"...


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/399189p-338232c.html

Where is "liberal" Hollywood? Steven Speilberg?? Oprah??? you visited the Katrina victims and used a lot of your own money to help them but many are in tents exposed to the elements and needing food and adequate shelter which only the government can provide and is why we paid our taxes all these decades. Why aren't you calling for the Bush controlled government to help???

Fu-k them too.

"Which is why it drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, 'We were misled.' It makes me want to shout, 'F— you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.'"...

Right effing on!

TC

the information was there, they knew it, and they were too afraid to do what was right

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-clooney/i-am-a-liberal-there-i-_b_17119.html




snip...

This is an incredibly polarized time (wonder how that happened?). But I find that, more and more, people are trying to find things we can agree on. And, for me, one of the things we absolutely need to agree on is the idea that we're all allowed to question authority. We have to agree that it's not unpatriotic to hold our leaders accountable and to speak out.


George rocks! We need to hear from more 'stars' who feel this way.

And you know what we should be saying to these neocon idiots?

"Yes, we're proud to be liberals. Liberals have given you voting rights, civil rights, unemployment insurance, employee protections, education, social security, pure food and drugs, and consumer protection.

When has the modern GOP EVER supported any of these things? NEVER."

That's what we have to tell the people.

Georgie gave them.

But who agrees with everyone 100% of the time...

And Edwards has since made a helluva respectable mea culpa on his vote. Was it for political reasons? Maybe, but frankly, I don't care. There's enough public support for these dems to make their mea culpas now, rather than try to hem and haw until November and beyond. They should do so now, rather than waiting to be stuck on a sinking boat with Bush and Lieberman.

In addition, unlike Edwards, Kerry spoke out against the war prior to its start. Bush missused the authority and invaded after the inspectors were in, were finding no WMD, and Saddam was destroying missiles. This week's NYT reports that Saddam was on the verge of losing power. If Bush would have followed what the IWR asked, there would have been no invasion. (Unless we, as part of the world went into fix a Yugoslavia type situation.

Consider why the relatively conservative NY Daily News (likely Archie Bunker's paper - the Post was liberal then) would print comments from December. The war is going out of control - who do these quotes blame? - the Democrats.

He co-sponsored IWR.

so he understood why Bush was "misleading" him.

.. what I think, and I've said it early and often. There is NO EFFING WAY that the senators running this country didn't know what was really up. They were just afraid of the politics, and now that being against the war would be politically helpful, they don't have the history to be taken seriously even on that.

It's pathetic.

They were cowards. There is no other spin or explanation for it and I've heard all the spin and explanations.

I am in total agreement GC!!

The lame, impotent, lie that the Dems "were mislead" is a bunch of bullshit. As the real progressive media was challenging the war, the vast majority of Dems were backslapping and heehawing with the Republicans as they beat the drums of war.

What was really happening was this. GW still had a strong approval rating, Americans were crazy with revenge and looking for a target, the media facilitated the propaganda because, afterall, war is NEWS and they could make a killing in ratings, and all ate at the trough of Rove like starved wolves.

The real truth is that the Democrats were scared to death of going against the war for fear of losing their political capital with their constituents who, repubs and dems alike, were blinded by the intensity of the jingoistic fervor that gripped the nation. Shame they had little forethought, cause if they did, they would have listened to the progressive folks who were talking about how it could not POSSIBLY work for the very reasons that we are having trouble now (civil war, increasing the recruitment for terrorist orgs, inflaming anti-US sentiment, etc..). If they played their cards right, they could have been sitting on an easy ride into the 06 elections.

He speaks for me! :thumbsup:

And stand today for IMPEACHMENT it could be a start back to remaining leaders of the party. Otherwise they can forget about a lot of votes in the future!

and how many of Bush's nominees have they stopped? I'm fed up with them and will only support Democrats like Kucinich from now on and Rep. Conyers and others who have voted the right way, against the war and Patriot Act eg.

I've never seen so many excuses made to defend those who broke our hearts, when they voted for the IWR eg. There is no defense, unless those who voted against it were wrong?? How come Kucinich, Byrd, et al were not fooled?

Edwards apologized a long time ago, btw, way before Kerry ~ I get angry just thinking of how they let us all down, and gave Bush and his friends the go ahead to kill and plunder and lie and cheat and torture.

George Clooney is right, absolutely ~ he wasn't fooled, most of the inhabitants of the planet weren't fooled, and anyone who was is not fit to be president, so I hope they decide not to run. I would worry about what they might be fooled by next.

or something. That's not very long ago in my book....if fact, seems like it was just about when the polls started to indicate that the American people did not support this war in the majority. Coincidence?

John Kerry never supported the war in the way that John Edwards did....so he didn't need to "apologize" in the manner that John Edwards needed to.

But in the end, I agree.....that I wasn't fooled and either should they have been....so anyone apologizing using that as an excuse is lying....far as I'm concerned! Especially those who sat on the Intelligence committee....

so sowwy.

Now, vote for me for president.

We have few good choices in this country for leadership.

need not run for federal office again, as far as I'm concerned. Even if they have "apologized". They knew what they were doing.

before the election. They were asked 'are you now sorry that you voted for the war? If you had it to do all over again, would you do it?' Edwards, 'yes I am sorry, and no, I would not vote for it again'. Kerry gave a long, roundabout answer ~ I can't really remember what he said ~ but that was the first time I heard Edwards say he wished he had not voted for the war.

We'll have to agree to disagree ~ but imo, anyone who voted for the IWR either did so for political reasons or they were easily fooled. 21 Dems in the Senate voted against it. One Independent and one Republican, a total of 23.

If they knew, and we knew and millions around the world knew, they should have known that this administration (after all many of them were former felons) could never be trusted with that kind of power ~ the world was begging them to try to stop them. They let us down, they let the Iraqi people down, and the world ~ and the results of that vote have been a disaster on a major scale, which many predicted would happen ~

I agree that apologizing now is too late and I really do believe now that anyone who voted for it should not be president.

he said he took "responsibility" for it, with a big grin on his face. Kerry gave a roundabout answer that answered nothing; talked about how he carried an M-16, or some such rubbish.

I think it was the Wisconsin primary debate.

I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, especially the last paragraph. If you voted for it, GET LOST.

voting for the IWR? I'm surprised it wasn't news...considering that he was standing up for his vote as he did here in this Hardball interview DURING the '04 primaries (Cause if he had gone from what he saying below to what you are saying....some might have said he Flip-flopped)....

Kerry in October. Kerry was never for the war - he called for regime change at home when Bush invaded and had called on Bush not to invade when it was clear he was. Edwards was for the far at least for 9 or so months after Bush invaded.

This thread gets a moving flash on freedom as well:

http://www.bozzetto.com/freedom.htm

IWR aye voters knew exactly what they were voting for and to claim to be misled is to be ironically enshrined in the "too stupid to be president" club. They failed America on conceptual and practical levels by hitching their wagons to W's tail pipe. All they got was the mind-numbing CO2 exhaust and they breathed it in liberally. To this day some of the presidential wannabes, won't admit how wrong they are. Those that don't have the necessary intestinal fortitude to admit it, don't deserve the votes of patriotic Americans who believe in Freedom, Justice and Liberty for All.

Those morally culpable for their IWR Aye votes, know intrinsically it was abjectly wrong. To defend it is lunacy because it is defending the actions of weak people making political calculations and not doing what was right on behalf of their constitutionally sworn oaths. Those Aye IWR voters should be speaking to We The People and shouting from the rooftops and mountaintops that Bush's outrageous and felonious lies have compromised America. They are OBLIGATED to consistently and continuously call for investigation and oversight into the conduct of the administration.

To state that IWR Aye voters were misled is being mealy mouthed and dishonoring again every single person who has been hurt by this War. They knew bush was declaring war - and when he went why was not one of them shouting that this was a misuse of the authorization and wholly unsanctioned by the Congress. They didn't because those IWR Aye voters are complicit in the death and destruction of the US Constitutional way of life. The IWR aye voters wanted to be president or support a future president, more than they wanted to do the right thing and be amongst the humble and noble in the pantheon of historical great leaders.

Go George Go - that is the hallmark of a leader - speaking up when it is unpopular and standing strongly in the in the face of overwhelming crticism. That's classy Courage!

Democrats

George is a very brave man. No one ever gave out awards in Hollywood for bravery. In fact, Hollywood, perhaps more than any other "industry" or town, bore a oversized brunt of the McCarthy witch hunts, during which many big stars found themselve unable to work.

To be sure, the old studio system under which that was allowed to happen no longer really exists, but I'd be willing to bet that especially the old-timers have a special recollection about what happens to public figures when you speak out against the government.

the spectre of the loss of work for a multi-millionaire isn't much to fear. In my neck of the woods we call that a vacation. Some of these people could make a difference. They choose not to.

:patriot:

I have absolutely HAD it with the gutless Dems in Congress.

control the House, Congress, the SCOTUS and yes... the media.

in to this war. Sure, there were a lot of Dem's (Hillery) who backed the resolution, but over all I strongly disagree Mr. Clooney. Congress and the Senate were fed bogus intel and cherry picked intel, making Saddam look like Hitler times ten. We STILL DON'T HAVE PHASE TWO OF THE SENATE INTEL REPORT FOLKS! Ever take take a guess as to why we don't have that yet! Most elected Dem's and the vast majority of the American public were dope feened in to this war. One the heels of 911, a nation still in shock and sorrow, itching for revenge, it was a real easy psychological sale to go to war with Iraq. We were duped plain and simple. A nation made in to suckers. Thats the reality of it. Ego's aside - we were had by a group of Neo-Fascist called the Bush Administration.


Ripping our party as a whole over the war resolution is playing right in to Rove's hands people. We were totally fucked over in to this war. The death of Paul Wellstone is testiment to that cold harsh reality.

I'd like to ask Clooney if he knew that the IWR was critical for getting inspections in Iraq. I'd also ask him where in the IWR does it say that Bush could attack Iraq unilaterally and use distorted lies and chosen faulty intelligence to race into war.

George, stop staring at yourself in the mirror and do a little homework, buddy.

Um...I don't think so.

Murrow would not have used GOP framing as part of a statement that also completely doesn't understand the text and meaning of the IWR. Without it, there would have been no inspections. He would have been a tad more responsible and concise in his view.

In other words, Murrow would chastise Clooney for being an ass.

for fear of reprisal from Joe McCarthy.

Russ Feingold is our Edward R. Morrow!

Edwards? Edwards? Oh stop!

:rofl:

Truth hurts, doesn't it!

I agree with the gist of Clooney's statements, but to characterize anything he said as "furious" is playing loose with the language.

the childrens' book character, for a clever head.