Republican Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) on the Bush escalation plan in Iraq: Some commentators have compared the Bush plan to a "Hail Mary" pass in football — a desperate heave deep down the field by a losing team at the end of the game. Actually, a far better analogy for the Bush plan is a draw play on third down … Read More
Marie Jon Apostrophe on “Democratic Defeatism”
Marie Joh Apostrophe has some thoughts about the State Of The Union and Iraq: After hearing the State of the Union address, many people came away with very positive feelings. The president gave an excellent speech. Under the president’s watch, the State of the Union is well. Marie knows that the State of the Union is well because Bush said … Read More
Problems With The Surge
A disturbing video showing U.S soldiers watching as their Iraqi Army colleagues (they’re Shiites) brutally beat Sunni civilians to near-death, as U.S. soldiers hoop and holler in support at the "Rodney King" treatment the civilians receive. Is this how to win hearts and minds? UPDATE: Carpetbagger shoots down five myths often spouted by war supporters: The conservative case in support … Read More
Novak: Democrats Are “Rude”
Novak is very cantankerous and grumpy today. More so than usual, that is. When President Bush called for a bipartisan "special advisory council" of congressional leaders on the war against terrorism in his State of the Union address, he had in his pocket a rude rejection from Democratic leaders. Thank you very much, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate … Read More
Whatever, Dick
"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president, I’ve severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years." – Vice President Dick Cheney, Meet The Press, September 14, 2003 – graph released today by … Read More
Excuses, Excuses
The NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) is a CIA report which pulls together the assessment of all U.S. intelligence agencies into a single document. It is an important document because it provides a complete snapshot of what our intelligence community thinks, based on the latest information. The last time the NIE made news was in September of last year, when portions … Read More
Making Fun Of The President And He’ll Cry
The White House Correspondents Association’s annual bash is typically hosted by a comedian who, truth be told, makes fun of the President while the President is sitting there. It is not unlike a Dean Martin or Friar’s Club roast, and every President has been "subjected" to it — Clinton sat there as Lewinsky jokes were flying about, and so on. … Read More
All The King’s Horses And All The King’s Men….
Bush, in the (less publicized) Jim Lehrer interview: LEHRER: Is there a little bit of a broken egg problem here, Mr. President, that there is instability and there is violence in Iraq – sectarian violence, Iraqis killing other Iraqis, and now the United States helped create the broken egg and now says, okay, Iraqis, it’s your problem. You put the … Read More
Why We Opposed The War
Kevin Drum asks: If anti-war liberals were right about the war from the start, how come they don’t get more respect? Here’s the nickel version of the answer from liberal hawks: It’s because they don’t deserve it. Sure, the war has gone badly, but not for the reasons the doves warned of. Is this true? I wish my memory were … Read More
Ungrateful Iraqis
On Sunday night, George W. Bush said: I think the Iraqi people owe the, the American people a huge debt of gratitude. That’s the problem, here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that’s significant enough in Iraq. And today we learn that: Nearly 35,000 civilians were killed last year in Iraq, the United Nations … Read More
Troop Reaction To The Iraq Escalation
Having announced his "new" strategy on Iraq on national TV Wednesday, the Bush team needed a PR boost to show Americans that real Americans are in support of the Bush plan. They consulted the standard playbook, and placed President Bush in front of what they assumed would be a favorable rah-rah audience: the American soldiers. So off Bush went to … Read More
The Surge And The Surger: Adding More Deck Chairs To The Titanic
Time for me to weigh in seriously on the whole Iraq "surge" thing. Yes, I’m just another twitter in the cacophany of pundits, commenters, analysts, and armchair generals — but here I am. Now I didn’t see the speech (I heard a later recording) so I won’t comment on the theatrics of his delivery. I’ll leave that to Howard Fineman … Read More
40 Years Ago Today
Applause to Attytood for pulling this together — a comparison of LBJ’s State of the Union speech (given exactly 40 years ago today), and Bush’s speech tonight: LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war–a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed … Read More
