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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


12.28.2007

 

Closer to home

It's a little odd to think of the connections Benazir Bhutto had back here to relatively regular people. A woman whose death has shaken the world was once a fellow student, a friend, a girl in the next dorm, albeit an already famous one.

Vermont ACLU director Allen Gilbert remembers her as a classmate at Harvard.

So does state Sen. Diane Snelling, who said she knew Bhutto indirectly through friends. Snelling was in the class after Bhutto's. Snelling's own father would go on to be governor of Vermont, but that doesn't meausre up to the kind of royalty Bhutto represented. People talked about Bhutto around Harvard as one whose feet never touched the ground, Snelling said, meaning that she was accustomed to having things done for her.

Peter Galbraith perhaps does not live as regular a life as your average Vermonter, but there the Townshend resident was receiving e-mails from the former Pakistani prime minister in the days just before his assassination seeking his help in preventing her death.

It's also an indication that if Galbraith were to run for governor of Vermont, as some suggest he might, that he likely has an roster of people in his e-mail address book and cell phone call list.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Comments:
That Galbraith knows Bhutto makes him better qualified to run for governor of Vermont?
 
Peter Galbraith's address book probably contains more contacts in Europe and in Asia than in Vermont.

Can you seriously imagine him talking with legislators about school finance formulas and such subjects?

Galbraith probably knows how to pronounce Calais (unlike Jack McMullen), but he should be looking for a foreign policy job in Washington under a Democratic administration rather than running for governor of Vermont.
 
Anonymous said...

"Peter Galbraith's address book probably contains more contacts in Europe and in Asia than in Vermont."

Ah, yes. The ol' coalition of the clueless, uninformed speculation as evidence song and dance.

Refresh my memory, little fella. Didn't Doogie go on a trade mission to Beijing a mere few months ago?

I remember his clown Mark Johnson calling in to inform us how everyone in the delegation had contracted a lung infection and the air was so bad you could barely see the end of the block.

"Can you seriously imagine him talking with legislators about school finance formulas and such subjects?"

And just what is the source of your knowledge of his lack of knowledge of State and local issues, little fella?

Precisely how is his experience abroad a liability?

Moreover, how does that experience abroad and foreign contacts equate to a shortage of State and Local knowledge, sport?

"Galbraith probably knows how to pronounce Calais (unlike Jack McMullen), but he should be looking for a foreign policy job in Washington under a Democratic administration rather than running for governor of Vermont."

Just how is Galbraith knowing Bhutto a bad thing?

Perhaps you're correct in your estimation, little fella. Probably not. In any event, you've established nothing that would preclude him from running and letting the voters decide.
 
His knowing Bhutto is neither an advantage nor a liability.
 
Small typo:

"days just before his assassination"

should be HER assassination.
 
Anonymous said...
""Peter Galbraith's address book probably contains more contacts in Europe and in Asia than in Vermont."

Ah, yes. The ol' coalition of the clueless, uninformed speculation as evidence song and dance."

"jw, you have absolutely no idea who posted this, so you have absolutely no idea who you're calling the "coalition of the clueless."

Ya mean besides the usual spineless, clueless and nameless anonymous subjects who routinely post here as anonymous, little fella?

"For all you know, the above observation could have been made by Anthony Pollina, Gaye Symington, Peter Shumlin, or Doug Racine. Are they all part of your "coalition of the clueless" just because they might have made the remark that Peter Galbraith's address book includes more names from Europe than from Vermont?"

That's true. I don't. Either does anyone else. As is the anonymous custom 'round these parts, they've offered no more factual foundation or supporting evidence for their assertion than you have, little fella. That's the rub.

"And do you have reason to believe that the observation is incorrect?"

Ah, yes, the ol' "Do you have proof that everyone else in the world is not behind this?"

Nice try, nitwit. Once again, it's not my job to disprove what the likes of you or some other anonymous nitwit has failed to prove in the first place.

Your inability to grasp that simple concept is the cornerstone of your complete and utter cluelessness as well as your total lack of credibility, little fella.

It's not my job to prove you loons don't know what the hell you're talking about. It's your job to demonstrate that you do.

You haven't.

You can tell me you're the world's most preeminent neurosurgeon 'til the cows come home little fella. Until I see some proof of that assertion, you're just another anonymous nitwit on a BFP blog message board.

It's called due diligence. Look it up. Learn something.

"And what gives you the right to call Mark Johnson -- who is a liberal and is married to a Prog -- Governor Douglas' "clown"?"

I was endowed by my creator, little fella. Look it up.

On what do you base your ludicrous contention that I need your or anyone else's permission, shmendrik?

That's what I thought.

Your claim that "Johnson is a liberal married to a Prog" may or may not be true. I have no knowledge of his marital situation or its relevance.

If nothing else, he comedy team of Carville and Matalin renders that point moot.

Once again, all you've offered is your reliably clueless and baseless opinion.

Furthermore, based on your less than convincing track record for honesty, accuracy, intelligence and integrity, why on earth would I take your mere word for anything? Why should anyone?

Once again, little fella, the only thing you've managed to prove is your complete and total inability to prove anything.

I never doubted you for a second.

It's been fun.
 
Caling Mark Johnson Gov. Douglas' "clown" really proves what a moron you are. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
 
Anonymous said...

"Caling Mark Johnson Gov. Douglas' "clown" really proves what a moron you are. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

It does, eh? Nice try, chuckles.

Actually it proves my previous post:

Once again, all you've offered is your reliably clueless and baseless opinion.

Furthermore, based on your less than convincing track record for honesty, accuracy, intelligence and integrity, why on earth would I take your mere word for anything? Why should anyone?

Once again, little fella, the only thing you've managed to prove is your complete and total inability to prove anything.

I never doubted you for a second.

It's been fun.
 
You're the one who decided to refer to Mark Johnson as "Douglas' clown."

Now prove it.
 
In other words, little fella's got bupkis.
 
Someone please kill me.
 
Anonymous said...
You're the one who decided to refer to Mark Johnson as "Douglas' clown."

Now prove it.

12:48 PM, December 29, 2007


JWCoop10 said...
In other words, little fella's got bupkis.


Nope. You made a statement. You have no evidence for it. And now all you can say to deflect attention is "little fella's got bupkis."

You made a stupid statement. You can't support it.
 
Anonymous said...
You're the one who decided to refer to Mark Johnson as "Douglas' clown."

Now prove it.

12:48 PM, December 29, 2007


JWCoop10 said...
In other words, little fella's got bupkis.


Nope. You made a statement. You have no evidence for it. And now all you can say to deflect attention is "little fella's got bupkis."

You made a stupid statement. You can't support it.
 
Oh, my God! My three year old has more maturity than the two of you. Do you have lives outside this electronic prison?
 
Benazir Bhutto was an inspiration.

She exemplified all that was great about democracy.

I hope that we can all learn something from her ... and perhaps keep her in our thoughts as we participate in our government and the political process.
 
Don't the outside observers all agree that her last prime-ministership was riddled with corruption?

Isn't her political "party" essentially a family dynasty, with the new party chief being her 19-year-old son?
 
And don't we need to rethink this whole Bush - Clinton - Bush - Clinton thing?
 
And don't we need to rethink this whole Bush - Clinton - Bush - Clinton thing?
 
And where is that moderate voice in Democratic politics in Vermont?
It is there - can you find it?
 
I believe that last moderate voice now resides somewhere in North Carolina.
 
Mark Johnson is a joke, so I agree with JW. Like most Vermont journalists(??), Johnson loves the superficial and shys away from hard-hitting or investigative journalism. It's time to retire dinosaurs like Johnson and bring some new faces to the table, although the pickings are pretty slim for sure.
 
Anonymous said...

"And don't we need to rethink this whole Bush - Clinton - Bush - Clinton thing?"

Yeah, and I'm sure you'd be singin' the same song if Bush's approval numbers were reversed and little jebbie was running.

While she's hardly my first choice, it took a Clinton to clean up the first Bush mess, it just might take a Clinton to clean up this one, too.

Hillary, Edwards, Obama and the other Dems running offer something that the current schmuck in chief and the swine vying to replace don't - COMPETENCE.
 
bubba said...

"I believe that last moderate voice now resides somewhere in North Carolina."

Maybe he can put ya up in the barn while you clean and repair his extensive collection of lawn jockeys, bubbles.
 
I was wondering how long it would take jwpoop to blame Bhutto's assassination on Bush. He/She/It didn't surprise!
 
"Competence" and "cleaning up the first Bush mess"! Let me see, Slick Willie "cleaned" up the country by giving ALL OF US the greatest tax increase in history in his FIRST year, including permanent increases on the tax retirees pay on their Social Security! And of course, he also had a "present" for the next Bush by leaving a recession due in no small part to the collapse of the dot.com phony economy he let ride for 8 years. How about all of the other "gifts" he left, like reduced military troop levels, a damaged Intelligence system, a never-ending "police" action in Bosnia, and of course, his crowning glory, impeachment and disbarment for lying under oath! And Hillary - the leftist shrew who is no more than the Kevin Federline of politics. Let's hear finally about her cattle-futures bribe, Whitewater, Rose Law Firm, her brilliant health-care "reform", etc. etc. Can hardly wait!
 
"While she's hardly my first choice, it took a Clinton to clean up the first Bush mess, it just might take a Clinton to clean up this one, too."

I think there's vast difference between the two Bush administrations. This one's a disaster, but I don't think the first one left a "mess" behind that had to be cleaned up. Bill was a great President, but I don't think his job was to clean up his predecessor's "mess."
 
Bill Clinton was a pathological liar that never did anything (except for Monica) without first checking the mornings polls. He lied about witnessing non-existent black church burnings that never occurred, when caught yucking it up with his pals at Ron Brown's funeral (who saved Bill from another scandal by dying in a plane crash before he could be indicted)he suddenly let flow with the crocodile tears, he lied about Monica, he lied about why he killed a bunch of innocents in a pill factory bombing on the eave of his impeachment, he authorized Janet Reno to not only execute a woman and child at Ruby Ridge, but immolated dozens of men, women, and children at Waco! He dismantled a good part of the military, oversaw the corruption of the intelligence agencies. His cowardice over the USS Cole, Mogadishu, Embassy bombings contributed to the terrorists belief that America was too yellow to respond. What part of "great" do you understand?
 
Anonymous said...

While she's hardly my first choice, it took a Clinton to clean up the first Bush mess, it just might take a Clinton to clean up this one, too.

"I think there's vast difference between the two Bush administrations. This one's a disaster, but I don't think the first one left a "mess" behind that had to be cleaned up."

Ya don't, eh?

Let's review: Bush, up to his "outta the loop" neck in Iran-Contra pardoned the late, unlamented Crap Weinberger to keep his own sorry, blue-blooded buffoon butt outta the witness chair because, in addition to being guilty of Contempt of Congress, treason, gross incompetence, perjury and multiple counts of obstruction of justice, he was the only man in the world who thought "Clarence Thomas was the most qualified man in America to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Thurgood Marshall and his race had nothing to do with him being selected for the job."

The famous incident where "Saddam gassed his own people" occurred at Hallabjah on 3/17/88. Granted, the sainted Reagan was still President at the time but I don't recall him, his outta the loop VP or any members of his cabinet or supporters raising much of a squawk at the time.

Additionally, there was the matter of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 3/24/89 that Exxon has yet to be brought to Justice or pay for.

In truth, the only decent responsible, sensible thing 41 did was raise taxes on the people who gave us the record Federal Deficits and Debts 12 years of Reagan/Bush BS had saddled this Country with that Clinton erased despite the fact he was saddled with an incompetent gop-run Congress for 6 of his 8 years in office.

Well, the Reagan/Bush Deficits and Federal Debts were the worst in history until 43 erased the record Clinton Surplus into a debt and deficit greater than the 42 Presidents before him combined.

While I'll grant you that he wasn't as bad as his idiotic eldest son, that doesn't make him good or even competent.

41 was a lousy President. 43 is far and away the worst President in US History.

Let me put it this way. Just because 43 went 0-5, stranding 10 base runners while striking out 3 times with the bases loaded and hitting into two inning-ending double plays doesn't mean 41 had a good game going 0-4 with a two-out, no one on walk in the second, while stranding only six runners.

To put it as charitably as possible, they both suck. It's just a matter of degree.
 
bubba said...

"Bill Clinton was a pathological liar that never did anything (except for Monica) without first checking the mornings polls. He lied about witnessing non-existent black church burnings that never occurred, when caught yucking it up with his pals at Ron Brown's funeral (who saved Bill from another scandal by dying in a plane crash before he could be indicted)he suddenly let flow with the crocodile tears, he lied about Monica, he lied about why he killed a bunch of innocents in a pill factory bombing on the eave of his impeachment, he authorized Janet Reno to not only execute a woman and child at Ruby Ridge, but immolated dozens of men, women, and children at Waco! He dismantled a good part of the military, oversaw the corruption of the intelligence agencies. His cowardice over the USS Cole, Mogadishu, Embassy bombings contributed to the terrorists belief that America was too yellow to respond."

First of all, bubbles, the Ruby Ridge incident took place on 8/21/92 when 41 was President and William Barr was AG.

You could look it up.

Unfortunately, the rest of your argument doesn't merely go down hill from there, it falls off a cliff.

"What part of "great" do you understand?"

The factual part.

Always a pleasure.
 
Anonymous said...

"Brock could beat Welch. Welch keeps voting to fund the war and he said he would get us out of there."

Really?

So, what you're saying is that in your estimation, The State of Vermont, as decidedly-Democratic, Anti-Iraq War, Bush-loathing State as there is in the Country whose greatest - if not only - source of discontent with Welch is that he's not Anti-War and Anti-Bush enough to suit them will turn to a little-known, Pro-War, Pro-Bush, one-term and out, former gop State Auditor with an ethical cloud or two over his head as a viable alternative, eh?

You must be suffering PTSD from your latest tour of duty in the War on Christmas, little fella.

Nice try. No sale. Seek help.

Dismissed
 
"The famous incident where "Saddam gassed his own people" occurred at Hallabjah on 3/17/88. Granted, the sainted Reagan was still President at the time but I don't recall him, his outta the loop VP or any members of his cabinet or supporters raising much of a squawk at the time."

So, what do you suggest, that Bush I should have invaded Iran?

"Additionally, there was the matter of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 3/24/89 that Exxon has yet to be brought to Justice or pay for."

Did Bush I cause the spill? If it had happened two years later, would you be blaming Clinton?
 
Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "Closer to home":

The famous incident where "Saddam gassed his own people" occurred at Hallabjah on 3/17/88. Granted, the sainted Reagan was still President at the time but I don't recall him, his outta the loop VP or any members of his cabinet or supporters raising much of a squawk at the time.

"So, what do you suggest, that Bush I should have invaded Iran?"

Explain to me how you get that out of the passage of mine you've cited, little fella.

Additionally, there was the matter of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 3/24/89 that Exxon has yet to be brought to Justice or pay for.

"Did Bush I cause the spill?"

No. Did he do anything to help ensure such a catastrophe would be less likely to happen again? Did he propose any? Did he do anything to strengthen environmental safety regulations in the aftermath of the spill?

Moreover, what was the Reagan Bush environmental record? What was the environmental record of the Republican Congress during the period of 1/95-1/07?

What was the environmental record of 43 during the period of 1/01 through the present? Has he proposed any environmental legislation for Congress to pass in his remaining year in office that could in any way shape or form possibly be characterized as environmentally-friendly?

What was his environmental record in Texas when he was Governor? Did air quality standards improve or decline under his tenure as Governor?

"If it had happened two years later, would you be blaming Clinton?"

But it didn't. It happened when 41 was President on the heels of 8 years of Reagan. Six of those years with a gop-run Senate.

I realize you Bush apologists find reality to be an inconvenient nuisance in the best of times, but, nevertheless, the facts are the facts and, as usual, they're not doin' you shrub shills any favors.

Bummer. Get used to it. The shrub-shill forecast calls for pain in '08.

Happy New Year
 
I guess jw's idea of an "environmentalist" is a phony like Al Bore who makes millions spewing inane garbage in his fiction books and "lectures" around the world playing the role of Chicken Little; of course back at his mansion in Carthage, TN he squanders more electricity than 11 average homes (after his "improvements"), then travels around the world in his private jet. Just like you, jw, a real piece of work.
 
"No. Did he do anything to help ensure such a catastrophe would be less likely to happen again? Did he propose any? Did he do anything to strengthen environmental safety regulations in the aftermath of the spill?"

I'm not a Bush apologist. I voted for Clinton twice, then Gore, then Kerry.

Just checking your logic. So, you agree Bush I didn't "cause" the Exxon Valdez spill, and change the subject to: "Did he do anything to help ensure such a catastrophe would be less likely to happen again?" Well, in the 8 years that he was President, did Bill "ensure another Exxon Valdez wouldn't happen, and did he bring those responsible to justice?"
 
bubba said...

"I guess jw's idea of an "environmentalist" is a phony like Al Bore who makes millions spewing inane garbage in his fiction books and "lectures" around the world playing the role of Chicken Little;....."

Clearly, uneducated guesses are your specialty, bubbles.

Always a pleasure.
 
One can believe that global warming is a crisis and also believe that Al Gore is a hypocrite.
 
Anonymous said...

"One can believe that global warming is a crisis and also believe that Al Gore is a hypocrite."

Really? How so?

While I have no problem conceding your hypothetical, I see no evidence that the someone you mention could be you based on your past efforts.

If I'm wrong in that assessment, feel free to show me how and where.

Dazzle me, Dude.
 
Wha?

Al Gore's lifestyle exudes more greenhouse gas than the average 30 households . . .

That's the definition of a hypocrite.
 
Wha?

"Al Gore's lifestyle exudes more greenhouse gas than the average 30 households . . ."

Really? I'm sure you'll be happy to cough up the factual basis for that assertion now won't ya, little fella?
 
Anonymous said...

"I wonder if Doyle could remain awake during the many committee hearings that would have to be held on a dramatic change like the one he wants to propose. Maybe if they offered free food at each hearing? That might keep his interest. As for Donahue, here's hoping Northfield voters finally send her packing in 2008. Does she even have a job, or does Daddy Warbucks keep her solvent?"

I'm sure you won't mind coughing up the factual basis for any of these assertions of yours now will ya, little fella?

You've certainly put my mind at ease at the prospect of you ever running. You'd have to come out in the open, demonstrate your qualifications and make your life the open book public service entails.
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
"I wonder if Doyle could remain awake during the many committee hearings that would have to be held on a dramatic change like the one he wants to propose."

I've attended committee hearings and seen the guy sleeping.
 
Anonymous said...
I wonder if Doyle could remain awake during the many committee hearings that would have to be held on a dramatic change like the one he wants to propose.

"I've attended committee hearings and seen the guy sleeping."

Yeah, he likes to give little tributes to dick cheney from time to time.
 
No, he just can't stay awake.
 
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