rbenjamin

The only thing Bush gave up was his sense of shame. posted 05/16/2008 at 21:42:46

What is McCain proposing that's going to change defeat into victory?

Is he proposing more US troops on the ground?
Is he proposing the ones already there aren't fighting hard enough?
Maybe more and longer tours...that should be popular.
How about new super weapons? Happy gas?
How about just buying all the warring Iraqi factions off?

Republican credibility on the war is less than zero. As an ex pilot, McCain should know the feeling.. out of airspeed, out of altitude, out of ideas. Eject. Or in the case of a voter, reject. With prejudice. posted 05/16/2008 at 09:14:46

What do you mean by "well on it's way." Excuse me, but we've been on the way for 5 years now. The Iraqi government sort of controls the Green Zone - but nothing else. Same as it's been for years. The Iraqi army still can't fight, or more likely doesn't feel motivated to fight our war. Same as it's been for years. You say Al Quida is soundly defeated. I'm skeptical about that, but even if it proves true, that just leaves us with a Sunni-Shiite-Kurdish civil war to settle. That one's been going on for centuries.

The world has lot's of nasty places. Sometimes the best solution is to stay out of the bad neighborhoods. Want to avoid economic catastrophe? Invest the billions we're wasting in Iraq on energy independence. posted 05/16/2008 at 09:56:35

Looks like McCain has traded in the gas guzzling "Straight Talk Express" for a slick new Pander Patrol.
He's redone his math too! Just 5 more years of ongoing victory in Iraq, not 100! Whew, what a relief! The man is scary-crazy. Probably from sniffin' Dubya's arm pit juice in those close embraces. posted 05/15/2008 at 15:57:20

GOP's Prospects Worst Since Watergate

NO PRISONERS posted 05/14/2008 at 22:51:12

Ok, here's how we humanely deal with Rush. Put a trail of oxycontin tablets from his front door to the nearest busy intersection. Problem solved! posted 05/08/2008 at 09:51:43

Eskow, you have got it right. posted 05/02/2008 at 17:47:40

I'd say we need one less party, the GOP, Something else will fill the vacuum, maybe the Libertarians or Sponge Bob. posted 05/02/2008 at 12:57:43

Dubya pulled off exactly one good decision in his life. He decide to be born the son of George and Barbara Bush. It's complete speculation on my part, but I suspect Dubya asked to be Son of God, and was turned down on the grounds it had been done before and better. Past the seminal event, if you'll pardon my awkward turn of phrase, it's been a case of "lights on, nobody home." I keep score at home and figure his lifetime stats to be a dismal 1 for 63. posted 05/02/2008 at 12:48:43

Numerous typos in this post. Many obvious corrections are needed.

Walters remembers Brooke as "exiting and bwilliant."

"I was certainwy _ I don't know _ I was certainwy infatuwated."

Go to your tool bar, select spell check, options, Fudd and this won't happen again. posted 05/02/2008 at 13:14:31

Ok, I', getting out the sock puppets for you. The banner is important because it made a huge claim:
WE WON! Well, as events clearly show anyone, Democrat, Republican, Independent or Whig, no, we didn't win.

A cockeyed optimist would say we have a long way to go before we win in Iraq. That would be John McCain setting the bar at 100 years. A realist would say we lost the war five years ago. That would be me.

The banner was a key icon in the bait and switch selling of the war. A commercial message gone bad. At 4000 dead American troops and counting, I'd say the banner hurt a lot of people. posted 05/01/2008 at 08:21:59

The analogy is even crazier than you describe. As I see it:

President Bush's American Gladiators are scheduled to play an important match against the Al Kaida Bombers at Haliburton stadium, Kabul. President gets confused, team arrives at Bin Laden stadium Baghdad, where he arranges a pickup game with a cocky, but equally confused local team (the Hussein Henchman). Only then does Bush spike the ball on the 5 yard line and showboat. Five years later, the big game against the Bombers is still delayed and about to be declared forfeit. What a world. posted 05/01/2008 at 07:57:49

I've read the whole post, and to my surprise, the title isn't a rhetorical question. The answer is multifaceted but still simple. First, most of the mainstream media is owned by a few big players whose agenda seems to be mostly directed at controlling even more news outlets. Second, it's a easier and cheaper to deliver press releases than do real reporting. Third, the American People don't demand more, as evidenced by the one hour news loops of Fox, CNN and the like. The ghost of George Orwell must be cursing that he didn't think the latter up. posted 05/02/2008 at 12:30:39

Not impressed with this ad. Good points: McCain in profile looks crazy-scary and the 100 year quote with IED footage backs this image up. Move over Richard III, there's a new hump in town.

Bad points: the above is 10 seconds in maybe 30 seconds of footage. Cut the glacial narration, cut the entire last half, which is weirdly repetitive to my ear. McCain is not the right man to get us out of Iraq, you made the point - don't insult my intelligence by spelling it out again for me.

My main problem with the spot is it's focus on Iraq. Dems need to hammer away at a broader relationship: McCain = Bush = Republican = corrupt, incompetent and out of touch. Economy, War, Fairness and Accountability.

A Democratic President alone will be a marginal victory. We have rare change to do something big and noble, Kill the Republican beast. Make it embarrassing to be counted Republican. Much like the Reagan era GOP made it embarrassing to be a liberal. At the visceral level, the Elephant is old, smelly, craps on the floor and runs amok much of the time. Talks tough, but doesn't have a girlfriend if you get my drift. Above the brain stem, ideas matter, parties sell ideas, they need to be held accountable for mendacity and incompetence. Can also be phrased "shoot a few parties to encourage the others." posted 04/28/2008 at 09:39:12

Self-loathing? Guess that's one way to put it. Wouldn't dog on a leash say it better? posted 04/25/2008 at 07:28:34

A refreshing piece when all attention is drawn to the unsavory Democratic Primary process. I suggest that all the dots are connected if you substitute Republican Party for Gingrich in your phrase : "consigning Gingrich to the slagheap." Job 1 for the Democratic Party, and anyone else concerned with our National Well Being, is to bring about the practical extinction of the Republican Party. If a political party isn't occasionally executed for gross excess, incompetence and disregard for constitutional law, then democracy isn't trying hard enough. If a party can't be fatally tainted, then there can be no accountability for core principles.

A one party system won't last, especially with Democrats in charge. Government of ideas, not of men, right? If you haven't that much faith in our Constitution then you might as well give up and appoint a king (hopefully a brighter one than the sack o' shit pretender whose lease is on the White House is about to expire).

So, to Obama and the 2 Clintons, stop the gotcha sniping. It's the 80% of the country that think we're on the wrong track, stupids. The Republicans are the wrong track. McCain is a Republican. A very rich Republican. A Republican that supports the war in Iraq for up to 100 years. A Republican who wants to bail out the bankers and the homebuilders, but not the people who lost their homes. A Keating V Republican.

To the super delegates: enough is enough, settle this thing now. posted 04/23/2008 at 08:20:28

"They, and their network, should hang their collective heads in shame."

Necessary, but not sufficient. How about, they, and their network should have their collective heads stuck on pikes. It's not that ABC did a crappy job, it's that they did the crappy job on purpose. The ABC agenda was to further muddy the waters and make the eventual nominee less credible to an already cynical public. Somebody high up in the ABC chain of command really wants to see Scary Crazy McCain in the WH. posted 04/17/2008 at 08:43:01

Any career consultant will tell you that Head Toady to the Son of Satan is a highly specialized field. Walen Smithers isn't going to retire anytime soon. Alberto needs to get realistic and take a career step back. Outsourcing to foreign lackeys is increasingly common, but the US economic engine is still creating entry level lackey slots available to well qualified stooges with high suction lips. Don't aspire to instantly justifying world domination and genocide. Think more along the lines of promoting petty evil and fostering a really unpleasant work environment. Not glamorous, but recession proof, and it pays the bills. posted 04/13/2008 at 13:35:50

Part 2

"We urgently need an exit strategy from Iraq, but it cannot simply be to declare we are leaving by some fixed, early date."

Why the hell not? Staying on makes policy sense if their is a reasonable prospect that we can achieve something worth the cost.. Your piece basically makes the case that the various Iraqi factions are going to have to come to some sort of accommodation before peace breaks out. You assert we have a capacity to influence the outcome in a way that is favorable to our national interest, but events indicate otherwise. The Iraqi factions can simply wait us out, pressuring the United States where they can, accepting favors when we offer them. Rope a dope. When we get tired and leave, the real business of nation building, regional style, can begin. Pretty much what we would do if the Iraqi's were occupying us. It will be ugly, and the outcome is not predictable. It may involve partitioning into three states. We broke it, we bought, we live with it. The most sensible policy is to contain the aftermath, something we are fairly good at.

"Even if we were to leave Iraq tomorrow, it would take years to rebuild, re-equip, and reset the American armed forces"

True enough, and it can't happen as long as we stay in Iraq. Important too, so let's start tomorrow. posted 04/11/2008 at 09:19:54

Part 1

What nonsense from the Hoover Inst. The way out of Iraq is to start leaving now.

To be REALLY fair Larry, their is no compelling evidence that the surge has lowered violence in Iraq or has caused any of the other modest improvements you cite. Levels of violence have ebbed and flowed throughout the occupation. Indeed, the surge was initially associated with a sustained up-tick in the body count (see the tables at http://icasualties.org/oif/. US casualties are trending up of late. The surge didn't elevate the number of boots on the ground by much, yet you claim was responsible for a 2/3 decline in loss of life. To be REALLY REALLY FAIR, a more logically compelling explanation is the money and influence we've been spreading around to the various Iraqi factions. The 180,000 additional Iraqi regular military, militia and police you cite are collecting paychecks, which makes them a lot less likely to work (overtly) for the insurgencies (plural intended). By contemporary Iraqi standards, we are creating a sizable middle class. Expedient in the short term, but of doubtful loyalty. As evidents in Basra recently showed, the Iraqi police and military aren't very good at their jobs posted 04/11/2008 at 09:18:29

Now that the Olympic Games have relocated to Undisclosed Location will "Big Dick" Cheney sell his home and move to Qatar? Success is already ruining UL. It's not the "off the beaten path" destination it was pre-911. There are already two Starbucks and a McD franchise. The road to the airport is littered with Jackassalope carcasses struck down by speeding SUVs. See it quick before it's gone forever. posted 04/10/2008 at 12:23:05

Once out of office it is not beyond possibility that Caesar himself will be rendered up if he flies commercial and is diverted to the wrong European airfield. Now that Haliburton has set up corporate headquarters in a "business friendly" sheikdom it might make sense for Lord Cheney to take self imposed exile ASAP and go for the really big bucks - "replenishing the old coffers" as they say at the top. Best not to tarry. The more the truth about Iraq and Afg. is revealed, the more likely some official with a conscious is likely to set off an interesting international incident. Especially if President Obama were to drop some discrete winks and nods down the diplomatic chain of command. Nothing would repair the shattered US reputation quite so quickly as putting top Bush era thugs before a credible judge. We in the US may lack the stomach for justice, but as Homer S. wisely says, "can't somebody else do it?" posted 04/07/2008 at 08:18:50