Zar

Yes. Ari Fleischer ought to be considered a legendary liar, except for this big slip up where he said the notion that nations could be "bribed" was an "unacceptable" discussion topic. Remember? He got laughed out of the room, and deservedly so!

Hubble head

I guess what I will miss most are the "Ari and I" quips on CommonDreams.org between him and Mokhiber.

Mokhiber: Ari, two questions. Why is the President appointing convicted criminals like Eliot Abrams to policy positions at the White House?

Ari Fleischer: Russell, you asked that question last week.

Mokhiber: I did not ask that question last week.

Fleischer: You asked it about somebody else. I dispute the premise of your question.

more "Ari and I"

[edited because i found the actula question worded different]

Danya

I was glad for a moment. Until I heard one of the two names being floated around as his replacement is the Pentagon's Victoria Clark.

Might as well have Ari. She is just as irritating and arrogant and doesn't dress half as well as he does. If she get's the job I hope someone does SOMETHING about that woman's wardrobe.

paul30

This frees up Bush to hire Josef Goebbels.

Why waste time with imitations when you can get the real thing?

PalestineChic19

I also celebrated when hearing of this, but it is scary to think of who the replacement will be. my fondest of memories about Ari are remembering him having his ass kicked in debate by Keith Stroup (NORML) and I think once Jack Herer as well!

-Samirah

Blixy Sticks

Ari is nothing but a two-bit trans-fatty acid clogging the arteries (media) and depriving the heart (mankind) of life sustaining oxygen (true representation of the facts).

GaryP

Article at Salon.com by Jake Tapper;

Fleischer fueled the essentially bogus "White House vandalism" story, about the Clinton staff's exodus from the West Wing, by telling reporters, "What we are doing is cataloging that which took place." He did this with a certain flair -- engaging in partisan demagoguery while claiming to be doing the exact opposite. It really was quite magnificent, in its way. "I choose not to describe what acts were done that we found upon arrival, because I think that's part of changing the tone in Washington," Fleischer said. "I think it would be easy for us to reflect and to discuss these things, and to be critical. President Bush chooses to set a different tone." Where was all the damage done? "You know, I really stopped paying attention to all the different places," he said.


Nine months later, defending the president's hopscotch across the country in Air Force One on 9/11, Fleischer asserted that the White House was the target of Flight 93, a claim that again proved to be false.

Fleischer was actually laughed out of his own briefing room last February when he disputed that the U.S. government -- then fiercely engaged in a campaign to win support for its Iraq resolution in the United Nations -- was doing so. "Think about the implications of what you're saying," Fleischer said incredulously. "You're saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition." The room erupted in laughter. (Click here, click on "Audio," and fast-forward to 37:07 into the briefing, to hear the peals of delight, followed by Fleischer's hasty "Thank you.")


Despite then-candidate Bush's continual refrain on the campaign trail that he loathed the concept of "nation building" -- on Oct. 11, 2000, Bush said, "We're going to have kind of a nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not" -- Fleischer on Feb. 27, 2003, denied that the president ever voiced such an opinion. "During the campaign, the president did not express, as you put it, disdain for nation building," said Fleischer.


More thoughts about Fleischer at;

http://salon.com/news/feature/2003/0...ri/index1.html

abe smith

The major trouble w/ getting-rid of (public) people one doesn't like is that the replacement/successor is often WORSE. It's this
eh, fact (if it izz a fact) that makes "liberals' become "conservatives". Of course, Henry's option doesn't work: "That government governs best that governs not at all."

Machiavelli

Well the list is getting bigger, Christie Whitman is gone too, in protest of Bush.

It seems like this administration has a serious turnover problem. Finance, Cabinet, Whitehouse Staff, Ambassadors, Military. Seems like it's someone new every month.

Does anyone know where to get a list of all the resignations from this administration?

Blixy Sticks

Doesn't surprise me. In fact, it reminds of how the Three Musketeers (Al Hoffman, Jerry Starkey and Jim Dietz) run WCI Communities, Inc. A handful of nobililty at the top surrounded by expendable commoners.