"You know, Mr. Bush has such soft hands, I can only imagine what his lips are like."
(thanks to Atrios)
Related posts:
Late Nite FDL Special Edition: Colbert on Lamont/LiebermanBy: Jane Hamsher Thursday July 13, 2006 10:27 pm |
"You know, Mr. Bush has such soft hands, I can only imagine what his lips are like."
(thanks to Atrios)
Related posts:

| March, 2003: The Month The United States Lost Its Soul by Jim White |
| Germany's Top General Quits over Afghan War Cover-Up of Civilian Killings; US Implications by fflambeau |
| Will Bunning or DeMint Put a Hold on Bernanke's Re-Nomination? by Teddy Partridge |
| U.K. International security Told Blair there were No wmd's Before the attack on Iraq by perris |
| Ah Geez Jane, Homework ?!?! by cbl2 |
| Private Insurance -- “An Umbrella that Melts in the Rain” by libbyliberal |
| "You Can Get Anything You Want..." by dakine01 |
| The Last Waltz by Elliott |
| Thanksgiving Weekly Address by twolf1 |
| WaPo Uses Vitter to Stoke False "Clintons Conflict" Narrative by Teddy Partridge |

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| View Post |
Lamont!
You’re up late Jane. Still on west coast time?
fitz wilson!!!
kobe!
Ned!!!
Jane!!!
Christy!!!
Rabid Venomous FDL Lambs!!!
Heh heh……..
Colbert so gets it.
And a helluva line when Colbert mentions Lieberman as past Vice-Presidential Candidate!
At the corner of Bland and Adequate – hah
It seems like the real message is breaking through in a few places.
Watching todays horrors in Lebanon is driving home the futility of Bush’s war even more I think.
Anyone see that Bush is down to 36 (lowest ever) in the Fox poll?
Also, good video by DCCC –
http://www.dccc.org/multimedia…..irections/
Rahm has been pretty Ballsy last couple days. He had a snarky release yesterday about the “Director of Lessons Learned”
Fell the Ned-mentum
Hoohoo. That’s funny.
Except “tongues the president” makes me queasy.
Urban Pirate — yes I haven’t really been able to transition to east coast time. Hasn’t really been a problem.
Didjall hear that Bill Winter from Colorado won Mark Warner’s Mapchangers contest? Another square red state seeks its inner blueness.
From the Winter campaign:
We Won Warner!
Fresh on the heels of an endorsement by General Wesley Clark, Bill was named the winner of Mark Warner’s Forward Together PAC “Map Changer”. Thanks to everyone who made our virtual victory possible, from the blog squads that worked the Net to the cyber-challenged who voted in their first online contest. Our success was sweeter for sharing it with so many supporters. Bill’s win put the nation on notice that despite our 9 electoral votes, Colorado is the square state to watch. Mark Warner called Bill to congratulate him for an impressive finish and confirm his travel plans for a mile-high-five this summer.
Winter’s website: http://www.winterforcongress.com/
They sound pretty jazzed. I was interested to notice that only nine thousand people voted in the online selection of Winter. That makes me wonder whether any other progressive PAC-holders are having any contests in July. And if there was a progressive candidate we could write in on their ballot.
hmmmm…..
OT- I saw Madonna’s show tonight and she has a great sequence of images where she ties together Bush, Chenney, Rummy, Condi and various other despots, global warming and the war. It was very cool, the crowd in Philly loved it.
Colbert’s treatment of Lie-berman is hysterically funny. How could anyone believe that he has not been reading FDL for the past several weeks?
OMG I just got finished watching this. Is there a Pulitzer for one liners? Give this freak a bag of money. I haven’t laughed this hard since “Virtual Reality” came in sugat cubes.
Did you hear what he said? He said that I was his FAVORITE DEMOCRAT! That’s all I needed to hear. Thank you, Stephen Colbert, for supporting me.
As for the rest of you, check out the official Connecticut For Lieberman Blog if you ever stop foaming at the mouth for five seconds.
Colbert gets it. That piece was so dead-on-balls accurate that it was scary.
Ya know, the blogfractal really ain’t makin’ much of a noise about the hand recount in Busby
/Bilbray CA: 50. This is the first real audit of a black box vote and Bradblog seems to be a voice in the wilderness about it.
Wink wink Nudge nudge.
“Lieberman was Al Gore’s VP running mate (An Inconvient Truth)”
_____
How does he keep a straight face? Genius.
Haha, Pat Robertson has come to the rescue of Joe Lieberman as well.
Boy, when was the last time a fly attracted this much shit?
joe lie-berman @ 10:54 p.m.
Your Connecticut for Lie-berman blog is hysterically funny, Joe. The way you are making a running gag out of “running for Senate” reminds me of the days when comedian Pat Paulson “ran for president.” You are a very funny guy. Oh, and GO LAMONT!
Colbert has cohones.
He’s great, his timing, his inflection, facial expressions, you can’t help but laugh with him
Colbert also has that ear…but I try to overlook it.
Damn, Colbert is funny. The writing is top notch, his commitment to character is just about flawless.
-GSD
Neuropholis 14
I think I read somewhere that he has, like, 50 writers.
Maybe a couple of them live in CT or are separated by only a couple of degrees of separation from someone who’se fascinated by the campaign — or FDL.
FWIW, I heard Jonathon Alter say one time that his wife is a producer of Colbert.
I’ve noticed for the past thirty-five years how soft many politicians’ hands are. And how short many of them are too – short politicians, that is. Never dated any politicians except my wife who was on a city council for three years. Her lips aren’t as soft as most politicians’ hands, just divine.
Colbert’s just starting now for us Angelinos.
Russ Feingold is quite shrimpy. Met him in Vermont and I towered over him.
I’m 5′9″.
-GSD
His balls were enormous though.
And that General Clark, while brave and steely-eyed, can only be described as almost wee.
Russ Feingold is quite shrimpy. Met him in Vermont and I towered over him.
Several of us LA based blogger had lunch with Russ a few months back. I’m 5′8″, and he was taller than me. And he picked up the tab.
I dodn’t look at his shoes, though, so might have been elevators.
TeddySF 30
Clark isn’t really teensy – - I’d say he’s about 5′9″.
This is why Colbert is so great.
Then there was Mike Dukakis. If he wasn’t short, that tank/helmet picture made him look almost like mini-me.
Is there a list of major current and historical politicians, sorted by height? Weight? IQ?
Poor Mike Dukakis. He looked like a scrubbing bubble in that helmut.
Bad PR move on his campaign for that horrible image.
-GSD
I think Dumsfeld and Shooter are extra short… like 5′4″ about…
OT.
Iran has chimed in and warned Israel away from attacking Syria.
I think that Israel will hit Syria and draw the whole region into a conflagration.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..dinejad_dc
-GSD
I have a hard time with both TDS and TCR, but I made sure to watch tonight, knowing that it was the end of a treasure trove of a week for their writers. Neither let me down. Jon nailed the president to a pig (the single most embarassing moment of W’s WH?), and Colbert nailed RGJ to the cross that he’s been bearing across the airwaves the last couple of weeks. I can see Lieberman, sitting in the dark, reading the comments at FDL, and whimpering.
Not only is Rumsfeld tiny, he is also made from plastic.
-GSD
Well the boogeyman has just arrived.
This is about the time of night when the house is super quiet, I can’t sleep, and the busy of the day slips away, replaced by a collage of fast-moving pictures of my life without my husband. He called today, lost 4 soldiers, all young, all pointless deaths. I have to go play online bingo or something to get this stuff out of my head. It was a good day on the Lake, ‘gnight Kids…Be good.
Rummy and Darth Cheney are the same size, small!
This is not a slam on short people, really.
well, now that we are almost done talking about the short guys – GSD, I’m thinking Israel would be nothing less than pleased to get rid of Hamas and draw us in to do away with Iran…
I’m not feeling too hopeful…
and I still think the meme being pushed by the admin is: “Israel/Lebanon…Iran/nukes”… they will tie ‘em together somehow…
that whole frickin WH has “Napolean syndrome”
Colbert: “the problem with evidence is that it doesn’t always support your opinion.”
Word
Hope – I’ll loan you one of my big dogs… they are Very Good at keeping out the boogeymen… and they snuggle too…
God I hope Gore was watching. I guarantee he would have fallen out of his chair at the “Inconvenient Truth” line. You just KNOW Al is enjoying Joe’s predicament.
Not as OT as political statures, but……….
I just spent an hour going through a lot of left political blogs, looking for a common subtext in how we’re dealing with the Israeli incursions into Gaza and Lebanon, and the ratcheting up of complaints against Iran and Syria.
my 2 cents: Israel has been planning somethng along the lines of what they’re doing for a while. Syria has a big dog in this and were far more lax than the Lebanese to let things get out of hand on Israel’s northern border.
I haven’t seen anybody offer up credible evidence yet which ties the Iranians into this beyond what you’d normally expect.
My take on the progressive blogs’ handling of this divisive issue so far: C minus.
“not only is he tiny, he’s made out of plastic”
… I’m still laughing!
ET
Billmon has quite a long post up on the Middle East:
http://billmon.org/archives/002523.html
God knows what kind of behind the scenes machinations are afoot in the Muddled East.
It is the chaos, like that in Iraq that tends to help foment and then destablize regions.
I sure remember that Lebanon was a hell hole through most of the late 70’s and 80’s.
There is the “chaos theory” that the US strategy was to cause this type of mayhem because it allows for constant intervention and tinkering with other nations.
But Deadeye Dick Cheney would never be that cynical.
-GSD
Hope 39
If you’ll write me at Jane AT dogstuff DOT com, I’ll share with you what let me sleep when the boogeyman showed up.
Thinking about you . . . .
This is from the paper delivered after conclusion of the 1996 conference, called “A Clean Break, A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” in Tel Aviv:
“Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon.”
“But this could occur only if Iraq was taken out first:
“Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right — as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions”
Among the signatories of the paper, delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu, were Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser.
I have a very close friend in L.A. who is from Lebanon originally, a documentary filmmaker. She visits her family several times a year; they’re artists and musicians and whenever she returns from a trip she’s got loads of wonderful stories to share. She’s actually put a new spin on “Beiruit” for me — and now I fear for her family.
The Israeli government fights their ‘war on terror’ the way ours does, with gross action instead of dealing with the problem intelligently. They just continue to engender, amplify and promote hatred.
ET- Hezbollah is definitely involved and it is definitely supported by Iran. Credible evidence, unless you’re Stephen Colbert. :-)
(He was on fire tonight and could hardly keep from cracking up.)
Regarding short presidents, there was some info released about that when Clinton was running. My recollection is that the short candidate never wins.
I like Clark, for example, and I figure his military background makes up for any height challenges.
OT – I can’t load the Wilsons’ complaint. I get a blank page every time I try and my adobe is current. At least I think it is. Anything more current than 7.0? I really want to read it. Can they ask the judge to recuse himself on the grounds that he is a Bush 43 appointee?
JftB,
You’re right – gross action that doesn’t work. It mostly promotes instability and hostility.
I just finished re-reading Churchill’s _The World Crisis_, his grand polemic on World War I. There are many great lines and insights, but I often wonder how such brilliant people as Churchill and his contemporaries couldn’t discern how much they were going to diminish the value of their citizens’ lives if they just let the whole edifice spin out of control – as they eventually did…..
Maggie
Adobe put out a new version I downloaded yesterday, 7.0.8
Maggie 54:
Hezbollah is definitely involved and it is definitely supported by Iran
Proof?
Maggie,
Of course Hezbollah is involved, and they have always been supported by Iran. But the jist of media coverage today inferred very strongly that Iran is directly involved in what is happening in Lebanon in a serious, and possibly new, way. But I haven’t seencevidence of that in the reporting, not even things like “intelligence” or “high-level government dources tell us” sort of stuff. Just the constantly reiterated claim which comes from ?….
Ed*ard Teller -
Yes, and I’m sure it’s been said hundreds of times here already, but imagine if we had an administration mature enough to step back from the tragedy of 911 and work diligently to address the issue of terrorism. For a moment there we had the world with us…
We’ve squandered billions and we’re less safe.
I could go on and on but I think I’ll turn in. Some day I’d like to read the Churchill book you reference. Thanks.
SteveAudio,
Did you catch my query a couple of weeks ago? It was “Do you know Joel Iwataki?.” an LA sound guy. I’ve gotten out of touch with him.
Did you catch my query a couple of weeks ago? It was “Do you know Joel Iwataki?.” an LA sound guy. I’ve gotten out of touch with him.
You emailed me, right? Didn’t I reply to you? If not, I’m sorry, I’ll dig it out and send something back to you.
SteveAudio,
I’m not sure what I don’t get in my e-mail. Something about my Alaskan e-mail tubes duct-taped to the mailbox on a long pipeline overstuffed with netflix and youtube tubie thingies….
While downloading Colbert, I went looking and found the latest from Robert Fisk at Info clearing house.
Now to go see what Billmon has to say about the situation.
Ed*ard Teller
Joels’ name sounds very familiar. If he does recording engineering I might have worked with him during my tenure at Capitol Studios, from ‘95 to ‘00. But to reiterate, his name sounds very familiar.
Maggie (54) If it is the Wilson/Plame legal papers you want to read TPM has put them in their document area and it isn’t pdf.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/plame-suit/
ET — it’s absolutely astounding how little attention was paid to the “A Clean Break” story.
It has played out before our eyes. Don’t know about Jordan and Turkey cooperation, but Israel could care less right about now. I can see US “assist” in Iran over the next week or two.
SteveAudio,
Yeah. When he lived in Alaska, he was one of the hardest-working people I knew. He ran a smokehouse on a place called Mummy Island, where he developed an excellent early Copper River sockeye product. He played the Mozart clarinet Concerto in Cordova in 1973.
Then he went down to SanFran to study guitar with Joe Pass. He was real early into MIDI, and that’s when I lost touch. Then last year on the Oscars, my wife heard a sound winner thanking Joel.
thanks for the info, everyone. something happened and I just lost a post and it is too late to rewrite it — gotta hit the hay.
ET you are talking about documents and I am talking strategy. 7/12 was the deadline we set for Iran on nukes and on that date Hezbollah attacks Israeli soldiers? Come on, that’s a no-brainer.
SteveAudio, if you are asking me for proof of Iran’s financial support of Hezbollah, you’ve got some serious homework to do because that has been a known fact since at least the days of the kidnappings of Americans in the 80s. Remember all those guys kidnapped? Grabbed by Hezbollah, funded by Iran, hello?
“The regional conflict widely predicted as one of the more horrific consequences of the Iraq invasion is now breaking out.”
Justin Raimondo’s Friday column at antiwar.com is a must read. He gets a bit creepy in this part,
“The American invasion and occupation of the Mesopotamian heartland has empowered the Israelis as never before – and now they are on the offensive, carving out a greatly expanded sphere of influence extending into Kurdistan as well as Lebanon, bringing closer to fulfillment the old Zionist vision of an empire stretching “from the Nile to the Euphrates.”
That is absurd. Israelis, by and large, want security, but a higher percentage of the population than ever has hopes for rational security and frank diplomacy.
Anyway, here’s Justin’s take on this:
http://antiwar.com/justin/
Justin Raimondo is one of the writers I follow who has proven time and time again to know what he is talking about with this misAdministration. He has documented the Mossad’s (Israeli intelligence) movements in the Kurdish north of Iraq when no other writers have bothered to dig up the info.
I haven’t read the newest Billmon piece (getting ready to) but he is another underrated writer on Muddle East affairs. These two guys have yet to steer me wrong on anything in that region so far.
Back on topic, Colbert is my hero. This nails it for me, I must pilgrimage to his show sometime. He or someone who writes for him about has to visit this place or some of our blogrollmates.
Those talking points used in The Word were straight out of the lefty blog comments sections, most of them right here on FDL. I personally invite the person responsible for getting tonight’s show done to take a bow.
I was pleasantly surprised to see David Brody’s 700 Club take on the Connecticut race. Fairly accurate considering the source. Of course Rev. Rightwing Robertson tried to screw that up by almost endorsing LIEberman. If you haven’t seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..&eurl=
King Colbert…we’re not worthy.
Jesus GSD, that “scrubbing bubble” comment nearly made me spit out my cappaccino! I always thought it was an exaggeration when people say “I ruined my keyboard”, but now I understand.
Stephen Colbert is without a doubt my favorite political commentator of all time. I just wish I could get to bed before midnight on occasion, but as soon as that stupid eagle flies onto my TV screen, I’m stuck watching it for the next half hour.
Nate C at 71, Good clip. Didya catch the part AT 6:31 where he said he had “a higher loyalty when I take the oath of office, PUT MY HAND ON THE BIBLE…” BWAHAHAHA, he’s not even loyal to his own religion; what a craven panderer.
Designers with a conscience turn down prestigious White House invitation.
Fini at 1:43 a.m.
“Those talking points used in The Word were straight out of the lefty blog comments sections, most of them right here on FDL. I personally invite the person responsible for getting tonight’s show done to take a bow”
I said last night that Colbert must have been reading FDL. Someone replied that he has a large writing staff, and perhaps one of them had been reading FDL. Regardless of where he got his information, I really got the feeling that he was talking directly to us. He seemed to capture every nuance of our collective view of the race.
Maybe there is no FDL connection; perhaps we are just very cutting edge on Lieberman/Lamont and so is he and/or his staff. In any event, he seemed to be on our wavelenght, and it was a lot of fun to watch.
Not to ignore a more serious topic that has received a lot of attention on this blog. Some of you seem to know a lot about what is happening in the Middle East, and I do not. What are your best guesses as to what will happen there in the next few days, particularly with regard to the U.S.?
Mornin’. Everybody up to speed on the 10am Plame press conference?
Seeya there.
O/T, But funny,
Prominent Republican and purveyor of low-grade beer busted for DUI;
http://www.rockymountainnews.c…..19,00.html
10 east coast
Colbert usedthe word “Joementum”. I am pretty sure that’s from fdl.
10am ET on CSpan 3 which is also available via streaming InterTubings from http://www.C-Span.org
Neuro, I spent a few hours last night reading about the ME because I never feel I really understand enough. From what I’m reading and hearing on BBC overnight, Israel is retaliating for actions by the Palestinians and Hizbollah (shooting over the borders) and their kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. However, in interviews with Lebanese and Hizbolla scholars last night, I learned that when Israel and Lebanon did a prisoner swap a few years ago, Israel kept prisoners as “insurance” and of course, Hizbollah wants themback.. They also have many many Palestinian prisoners, some as young as 7, and they have made life miserable in many ways forthe palestinians even since leaving Gaza. They are saying this is allabout the kidnapped soldiers, but they have demolished major infrastructure in both places, bridges, roads. They bombed intersections in Lebanon last night and killed and injured many civilians. Most of what I heard from Israel was that it waseveryone else’s fault, but the overall opinion is that they are being extremely aggressive and that war is probably inevitable.
…and don’t forget http://www.ThankYouValerie.com !
neuro, I just wrote a response for you but it disappeared. Be right back
oh, there it is. Cool
Ed*ward Teller 1:18am — Realize you left your comment in the wee hours, don’t know if you’ll stop back here. You said:
That is absurd. Israelis, by and large, want security, but a higher percentage of the population than ever has hopes for rational security and frank diplomacy.
Then the Israeli population mirrors that of the U.S., doesn’t it? We may want to believe that the majority, here or in Israel, wants peace as much if not more than security, but a minority has taken the rest of the country hostage and is pursuing its own agenda — that of war and dysfunction and destabilization.
The weird lack of overt and active response in the right-wing owned media by Bush and the rest of his administration suggests that they are using other players to make their case for them. How much of what we are seeing is not only wicked, harmful stagecraft? Martin Savage this morning on The Today Show said a rocket had blown up mere feet in front of them; do we believe that Lebanese guerillas missed them, or that another party made it look that way for the benefit of the camera?
I trust no agent in this mess right now; the truth is too easily obscured, manipulated further by rhetoric.
The text of the Plame lawsuit.
Warning pdf.
Zennurse – In this time of Middle East weirdness, we should probably expect that our comments will be highly moderated. There are a lot of anti-semites who drive by here throwing bombs and many of the key words from our discussions will trigger the filters.
*ilson,
How did you find that it was on c-span 3? When I looked at the schedule I couldn’t find it.
Thanks.
what kind of soldiers get “kidnapped” ? thats propaganda! the same Establishment Media folk that brought you the War on Iraq are now bringing you the War on Iran or Syria or Lebanon or Palestine (mix and match)
Also, as a result of sanctions and other limits placed on residents of the Gaza Strip, they now have only enough food for 2 weeks, and many of the children are already malnourished and sick. It is described as a humanitarian crisis, and that was before Israel cut off the electricity and the water by targeted bombing attacks. Aid agencies can’t get in to bring supplies and Israel was severely limiting them before this attack began. That’s surely why the Palestinians kidnapped the soldier.
I’m not sure anyone in that region can negotiate in good faith at this point, and it’s pretty clear that Bush is no Clinton when it comes to making this a priority. It looks like the Bushies are just going to say,”Go for it Israel”, and let them start the war Bush wanted all along, with Iran and Syria.
somebody online last night mentioned the CSpan3 thingie … I aint no Brian Lamb !
zennurse at 81 – “Joementum” is actually from Leiberman himself, a word he coined to describe his unstoppability during the 2000 primaries. mmmmm – not so much.
I don’t know how Colbert does it with a straight face. I saw him almost start to crack a smile but he checked it.
zennurse — there are very hard feelings about the bombing by Israel of civilians on a beach in Gaza, victims included children. There appeared to be little provocation of the bombing except for the dispute over Hamas’ win in Palestinian elections. At the time of this bombing, Hamas had not yet recanted its position on the elimination of Israel.
NZ Herald has a timeline.
I personally find Israel’s assault on civilians to be deplorable; there is never any excuse for attacking children. Ever. I view this as a line over which civilized, rational countries never step. And yes, I fully realize that applies to our own country; we used to be civilized.
*ilson, I can’t tell if you’re being tongue in cheek or not, but remember our POW’s in Viet Nam.
Mommybrain, I realize that. I have really been realtively ignorant by choice when it came to Israel and it’s neighbors because it is so hard for me to believe that generation after generation would allow their children to grow up in an atmosphere of constant war. I still don’t really understand, probably because of the religious aspects, which would not move me to war on any level, but I feel like I’d better get more informed pretty quick.
While it didn’t get the biggest laugh on the show, my favorite part was his deadpan that, when he needs insightful analysis of internal Democratic party politics, the place to go is David Brooks.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
*ilson @ 93 sez:
I aint no Brian Lamb !
Damn.
Another fantasy ruined!
.
Good morning, everybody.
zennurse 92, I heard someone on Lehrer last night (sorry, don’t recall the name) say pretty much what you do — that this has gotten so out-of-hand because for 6 years the US has ignored the issue, leaving the worst impulses of both sides to reign.
Worst. President. Ever.
Is Brian one of us Lambs?
that’s precisely the point: soldiers are ‘prisoners of war’ — they get ‘captured’ — nobody ever said John McCain was ‘kidnapped’ —
Brian sure as hell has never been called ‘rabid’ ! his personna is deliberately and studiously non-rabid … he’s also a Hoosier originally from Lafayette.
Is Brian one of us Lambs?
We’re rabid.
Gnawgnawgnar…
…but I don’t are for mountain-goats.
They’re just wrong.
.
Ah, yes,Rayne,I had forgotten to include that, but it sounded to me like there have also been a bunch of random strikes overthe borders by the Palestinians and, to a lesser extent, Hizbollah in recent months.
I agree with you but not just about the children. Israel is calling this a path to peace which is utter nonsense. I realize these are not all nice people, but it’s like using the death penalty to teach kids not to kill. There have been very few soldier deaths and many many civilians and kids killed and injured. They bombed a hospital last night, I think in Gaza. Hospitals have moved their patients into the basement and are trying to function without water and electricity, for heaven’s sake. It’s just cruel and pointless.
I’ve been wondering about that too, *ilson — since when (and why) has the word “captured” become so radioactive that it has to be replaced by “kidnapped”? That doesn’t seem like a good swap to me, PR-wise.
as usual, Billmon is good about the Israeli predicament http://billmon.org/archives/002523.html
‘kidnapping’ is a crime inflicted upon civilians — a man in a uniform in a government army is considered fair-game during a conflict however: thus ‘captured’
*ilson, oh, I see, duh.(raps head with knuckles)
The Beeb just said that the PM of Lebanon is reporting that Bush is “going to try to use his influence with Israel” to get them to pull back.
Also, slight pull back in Gaza by Israel, but described as a rotation. Life in Gaza worse and worse, rubbish piling up and no end in sight.
the $3 billion a year that the U.S. provides to Israel is a pretty damn big carrot that Bush probably won’t use …
everything is blurred– now uniformed soldiers are ‘kidnapped’ and people without uniforms are ‘enemy combatants’ to be held forever.
when IED or strapped on bombs go off, they are ‘terraists’, when F-16s fires a missile or bomb, that’s okey dokey precision guided self defense against the terraists.
morning, all. is the world still here?
Copied this from DKos, thought it was funny
Coming up tonight on Everybody Loves Arlen!
Arlen Specter: C’mon, you guys. Give it back.
Vice President Cheney: Give what back?
Arlen: You know darn well what. My lollipop.
Cheney: We don’t have your lollipop, do we, fellas?
Gonzales, Bush, Rove: Nah. No. Never seen it. Hehhehheh.
Specter: You grabbed it from me and threw it in that goddam drawer. Now what do I hafta do to get it back?
Cheney: You mean…this lollipop?
Gonzales, Rove, Bush: Ooooooooh….
Cheney: This succulent, artificially flavored, cherry, Charms BlowPopTM?
Arlen: That’s it. That’s the one. You know it is, dammit.
Bush: Well I s’pose you could, uh, make that whole NSA thing go away. Make up some bullshit about how FISA court approval’s more of a “tradition” than a law.
Gonzales: Tell `em we’ll start following the law we should have been following all along. But didn’t. And only if we feel like it. But don’t say that. I think.
Cheney: Al, shut up.
Rove: Just tell everyone it’s all under control.
Arlen: Good gravy, I’ll do what you want. Now give it here.
Cheney: Go on, Mr. President…give him his lollipop.
Bush: Sorry, Dick… I kinda ate it.
Cheney, Gonzales, Rove: Uhhhhhhnnnnn???
Arlen: No deal, then!
Bush: Ding dong! Fooled ya! Hehhehheh…Arlen, you was goin’ nukular!
Arlen: Why you little… Heh. I love you guys.
Tonight at 9! Sponsored by the Republican-controlled Congress. When America absolutely positively has to be screwed up overnight.
Singh in India is saying that Pakistan is responsible for the train bombings. OK, somebody explain that to me, I don’t get it.
Zennurse-
It’s called world war III.
Zennurse: allegedly Islamic Kashmiri-separatists terrorist groups backed by Pakistan are responsible for the Mumbai bombings — thus the Indian President’s charge …
To clarify, it is israel saying the soldiers were kidnapped.
I have demonstrated my ignorance of the Indian-Palestinian conflict and just learned of previous war. I told you I had a lot to learn.
Oh, just ignore me, I’m staying Palestine when I mean Pakistan. What a mess!!
I agree, and it’s as I said above, its the war Cheney wants; I be he’s sleeping well as are all the Rapture gang.
So is the Wilson/Plame presser gonna be on teevee? Anyone know if/where?
Rev Deb: it is likely to be on CSpan3 at 10am ET
zenn 116, “kidnapped” was also the verb used when our two soldiers from Green’s unit went missing in Iraq … even after their bodies were found. It’s just such strange language in this context, I wonder why somebody thinks it’s a better choice than “captured”.
Thanks *ilson.
We don’t get 3 on our cable. Only a little corner of my laptop screen via stream. Was hoping it would be on somewhere else.
RevDeb, CNN is going to carry it live also — though they have that tendency to cut away too soon.
lotus, war is a language I have never understood.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/…..40357/1004
Amen, zennurse. That statement’s a keeper you should expect to proliferate from here.
Thanks lotus,
Wouldn’t put it past Rover to stage something awful to interrupt the presser. How cynical I’ve become.
AP
” WASHINGTON – Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.
Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they’ll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn’t bode well for the Republicans.”
old song: ” I ain’t gonna study war no more ! ” Good sentiments …
What world is the preznit in when at the presser yesterday with his gal Angela he speaks about a roasted pig after he says that the situation in the ME is “sad” and “pathetic”? umm, cultural sensitivity training, anyone? Class, anyone? oh yeah, it’s w.
Then he goes on with his regular spiel about the terraists and their disregard for human life, when we are really talking about 3 soldiers that have been captured and those that captured them want to swap with the Israelis that (wait for it…) ‘captured’ ‘radicals’ and ‘terraists’ — hey, buddy, it’s called ne-go-ti-a-tion, sound it out, I knew you could. I don’t like the tactics either, btw, on either side. But puh-leeze, the death and destruction being inflicted by Israel is disproportionate and collective and against international law. How come the ‘terraists murder innocent civilians’ and when we or our allies do it, it’s called ‘unfortunate collateral damage’?
rant over, for now.
We are slipping further behind the curve. Is there a post planned soon dealing with that little skirmish going on in the Middle East? Ladies, consider yourselves beseeched!
CNN is saying they’ll do live coverage of the Valerie press conference at 10am ET
*ilson46201 @ 107
as usual, Billmon is good about the Israeli predicament http://billmon.org/archives/002523.html
Billmon:There is something qualitatively different about the latest cycle of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although I’m having trouble in my own mind hanging a label on it.
I’ve got a label for him:
Terror-torialism
new thread — poison pills !
Read upward, OKKiddo, discussion now available.
Wolcott weighs in via NO QUARTER
Lotus 120 said zenn 116, “kidnapped” was also the verb used when our two soldiers from Green’s unit went missing in Iraq … even after their bodies were found. It’s just such strange language in this context, I wonder why somebody thinks it’s a better choice than “captured”.
“Capture” is a normal and legitimate part of warfare. “Kidnap” is an evil, indefensible, cowardly act. Propogandists are using “kidnap” WRT soldiers to frame our perceptions and inflame our emotions.
This is an excellent compilation by Susan UnPC, also at NO QUARTER
SusanUnPC
Okay, Eric Alterman is kind of burning up the airwaves this morning on cspan. Some guy just said to him “It’s clear you’ve never read the Wall Street Journal…” And his response, including specific reporters’ names and stories was priceless. I usually can’t take the devisiviness of “Washington Journal”—taking a “pro” call followed by a “con” call, but this is pretty entertaining.
*ilson at 6:38 a.m.
I wonder if working for Joementum is anything like working for Harris?
He’s so right on, Colbert. Especially the part about Brooks & other Lieberman supporters denouncing the primary as a jihad or an inquisition. rational folks would call it : democracy.
And……Wasn’t it said by Ben Ladin and others that the cause of 9/11 was the Bushies ignoring Israels abuses of it’s Arab neighbors. Yes, Bush is relatively inactive now, wondering about Bar-B-Q pig because other agents are at work. In reality this is about the war mongering haves forcing its well on the subsistant, abused, and used havenot slaves of the dominate global machine. In a world of totalitarian regimes, they have Bolton in the UN to veto any humanitarian regime. As Israel seems to be all powerful it would seem that they don’t need our 3 billion.
I’m heading over to the Colbert Nation.
oopsie, link here to The Colbert Nation