Joy Reid on Bush in 2009: 'Investigate The Bastard'

    In 2009, Joy Reid posted the below article on her blog using a photoshopped picture of President Bush holding the flag and giving the finger. [The Internet Archive appears to have deleted old The Reid Report archives now.] The article was about a poll regarding investigating allegations of torture by the CIA under Bush.

    Earlier today I wrote about Reid referencing a malicious rumor about an affair between Bush and his secretary of Condoleezza Rice. Reid has apologized for some of her old posts, but has yet to address either of these.

Joy Reid's Old Blog Photo: 'Condi Rice with (future political baby daddy?) John McCain'

    On her now-defunct The Reid Report blog in 2008, Joy Reid went after George W. Bush's secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. As then-presidential candidate John McCain was considering his vice presidential choice, former Bush administration Dan Senor floated Rice's name as a possibility for the position ultimately filled by Sarah Palin. Reid posted a photo of McCain and Rice with the caption "Condi Rice with (future political baby daddy?) John McCain."

    Earlier in 2008, Reid referenced a vicious, left-wing conspiracy theory regarding an alleged affair between Rice and President Bush. Reid wrote:

[Rice] has been a middling secretary of state, with few real accomplishments to show for her sojourn with George W. Bush (then again, nobody who's hung around that clod has much to show for it after nearly two terms.) We don't know much more about her than that (unless you believe the stuff about her being Dubya's girlfriend ... she'd have to have pretty poor taste in men...) [screenshot below]

    Reid has apologized for some of her old posts after suggesting hackers had written the more controversial passages that were found on archived copies of her blog. The Wayback Machine (archive.org) seems to have since deleted at least some of the archives, but other copies remain elsewhere as of this date [at this point, I am not linking to those archives to avoid further scrubbing of the record.]

    Personally, I have no desire to see Reid fired from her current position at MSNBC, but rather simply take responsibility, apologize when necessary, and show a willingness (along with the rest of the media and the public) to forgive old, intemperate or immature remarks. Who knows, I may need similar consideration someday myself. 

State Dept. Webcast Features Guest Who Called Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice 'Uncle Toms'

    The State Department is presenting a global webcast on February 4 entitled "From the Street to Mainstream: The Evolution of Rap/Hip Hop Music."  The host of the webcast, rapper and State Department Music Ambassador Toni Blackman, will be joined by Pras Michel, a founding member of the hip hop group the Fugees, to discuss "how rap and hip hop have increased social awareness of the African-American experience — and raised even broader issues in contemporary society."  Rappers are notorious for being controversial and provocative, but some of Michel's more inflammatory comments in the past raise questions about the appropriateness of his appearance with the U.S.'s Music Ambassador on a government-sponsored webcast representing America to the world.

    In 2008, Michel was interviewed by Katie Halper about Michel's documentary Skid Row, which chronicles the rapper/filmmaker's experiences "undercover for 9 days and nights as a homeless person in downtown LA's notorious Skid Row."  Michel lamented in the interview that the "African-American generation is lost.  They're not being represented correctly."  He found fault with Bill Cosby and Oprah for just "point[ing] fingers." He called Michael Jordan a "sell-out." But he saved his harshest words for some well-known black conservatives as he contrasted them with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama:

Somebody said to me you only like Obama because he's black. Well I can think of a couple black people I wouldn't vote for. I'm not into black power. And on the other end of the spectrum, you got the Uncle Toms, the Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice ... I'm not into that either. Obama is a uniter. He's perfectly comfortable with the skin he's in. He's not gonna sell out. That's a man of great principle.

    Michel added, "By the way, I don't formally support Obama. I just want people to know I really like him."  However, according to the Washington Free Beacon, Michel did go on become an Obama supporter, was a White House guest, and even became a founding member of Organizing for Action with a $20,000 donation.
    Besides Barack Obama, Michel noted in the interview some other African-Americans he admires:

I love Cornel West. I respect him. But a black kid on the street don't have a clue who he is. Look, When Muhammed Ali came out ... the reason he's "the people's champ" ... is because he was defiant, he went against the U.S. government when they wanted to ship him to Vietnam. And he stood by it and people stood by him.

    The Washington Free Beacon also noted some of Michel's remarks about his experiences in Somali in 2009 when he was filming a yet-unfinished documentary about Somali pirates and his ship was hijacked by those very pirates.  Michel seemed to blame the U.S. Navy Seal rescuers for fueling anti-American sentiment:

Pirates invaded the ship he was on, the Maersk Alabama, during filming and took the ship’s captain hostage. 

The captain was rescued by Navy SEAL snipers, who shot three pirates in the process. 

Pras explained in an interview with CNN, that the Navy SEAL rescue actually foiled his plans to meet with the pirates, because it created anti-American sentiment amongst the pirates. 

“We were supposed to actually meet with a couple of the pirates, but the capture happened so we had to retreat,” Pras said.  “It has gotten worse because, you know, they rescued the captain, but then they shot three pirates, so now it’s a whole anti-American sentiment going on right now.”... 

“They feel compelled to protect what they feel like is their waters,” Pras said. “They feel like the ships that are coming through are polluting the water and affecting their fishing industry. They feel like this has been going on for centuries, and they feel like they are taking matters into their own hands.” 

“They have a compelling argument,” he concluded.

    The State Department webcast is scheduled for February 4 at 8 PM.  The description of the live video webchat says in part that Michel will discuss "how rap and hip hop have... bridged the socio-economic gaps among races," and is billed as part of the State Department's observance of Black History Month.


Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Chuck Hagel's Biggest Obstacle to Secretary of Defense Job: Himself

    President Obama, despite growing opposition, is likely to nominate former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense as early as Monday, CBS News reports.  This move will stand in contrast to the withdrawal of Susan Rice's name for consideration as secretary of state when her possible nomination came under fire for her inaccurate statements about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya on a number of Sunday talk shows.  But Chuck Hagel's time in the Senate will provide questioners at his nomination hearing plenty of fodder, and not just one bad weekend on TV.

    Hagel's oppostion to the Iraq War is no secret.  After initially voting for the Iraq resolution in 2002, Hagel soon became a vocal and vociferous critic of the war, President Bush, and Bush's military and administration officials responsible for prosecuting it.  Extreme left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, writing at the Huffington Post on Saturday, even credits Hagel with being one of the few who told the truth about the Iraq War with his comment: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are."  Perhaps one of Hagel's most outrageous statements regarding the war, and in retrospect the least prescient, was one he made to Condoleezza Rice on the heels of President Bush's announcement of the "surge" in Iraq which was calculated to reverse the deteriorating situation in that country:

So, Madam Secretary, when you set in motion the kind of policy that the president is talking about here, it's very, very dangerous. As a matter of fact, I have to say, Madam Secretary, that I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out. I will resist it. (transcript via PBS)

    As it turned out, the surge was widely credited with doing exactly what the Bush administration planned, and arguably set the stage for President Obama to largely end America's involvement in Iraq on a relatively positive note.  Hagel's credibility as secretary to "wind down" (to use the president's term) the war in Afghanistan might well be called into question with his spectacular miscall on the surge in Iraq.

    Hagel's surge comments are not the only awkward moments likely to surface at Hagel's confirmation hearing.  On September 11, 2007, Andrew Sullivan, writing at the Atlantic, chose to highlight a pair of senators' comments at hearings held about the Iraq war and the Bush administration's strategy.  The two senators?  Chuck Hagel and Barack Obama.  And one of the witnesses at whom these two senators directed their indignation?  President Obama's first choice for secretary of defense and the military leader responsible for the surge in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

    Chuck Hagel's chances of becoming the next secretary of defense may well rest on his ability to mount a credible defense of his own past public statements.

Update: Suggested opening question for Hagel's confirmation hearing: "Senator Hagel: In 2007, you called the Iraq surge, quote, the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, unquote.  Given that President Obama's first choice to be the next secretary of defense was reported to be General Petraeus, the man who successfully carried out the surge, one: do you stand behind your 2007 statement, and two: would you be open to consulting with General Petraeus on the winding down of the war in Afghanistan if you are confirmed?"