OldCoastie @ 31

K. Harris, coming up on hardballs…

filing this under “mental images I did not really need”

hee hee!

Also, the Iranian exile community, having prospered under one of the most ruthless dictators ever (the Shah) has no use whatever for “democracy.”

http://www.loosechange911.com

egregious @ 210

astralplame @ 199

and this all assumes that the October Surprise is just a GOTV issue, rather than a “Declare Martial Law and Suspend Voting” issue.

No that’s for ‘08 when they are truly cornered. End game.

The disturbing element of this is that Homeland Insecurity Creation’s ICE Immigration plan to build $385,000,000 worth of Halliburton prisons for illegal immigrants or “other programs”–WHAT OTHER PROGRAMS is called:

Endgame

Makes you wonder if there are any Beckett fans in the shop somewhere.
If so, maybe whoever-it-is can talk Camus with the Shrub.

astralplame @ 199

and this all assumes that the October Surprise is just a GOTV issue, rather than a “Declare Martial Law and Suspend Voting” issue.

No that’s for ‘08 when they are truly cornered. End game.

The disturbing element of this is that Homeland Insecurity Creation’s ICE Immigration plan to build $385,000,000 worth of Halliburton prisons for illegal immigrants or “other programs”–WHAT OTHER PROGRAMS is called:

Endgame

It would be fun (in a depressing way) to have a “sticky” or recurring thread in which we engage in an October Surprise Pool. Whoever comes closest to describing the method and timing of the OS will win a prize, like a month’s supply of plastic sheeting and duct tape. Or canned food.

I’m sayin’ dirty bomb/biological attack, San Francisco, mid-October.

Um, Tommy. I think maybe I’m the one who should win the duct tape.

orangejumpsuit – you make a good point about troop withdrawals, but I can’t quite agree with it. Initiating troop withdrawal could so easily be termed a surrender to the Democrats, if not the Terrorists. This administration may well feel obliged to go for the pure injection rather than the contact high.

It’s a question of framing. Bush will declare that Iraqi democracy is in place, and he can cook up whatever proof he wants. He has lied before, why stop now? At that point the Dems can only agree because that is what they have been calling for anyway. And, if they brought the troops home, would you disagree with that?

You see, they hold the trump cards, we got deuces high. Right now his poll numbers reflect dissatisfaction with the war. This will be his way to defuse that. For Bush, the withdrawal scenario comes as close to win/win as he can right now. People are sick of the war and he knows it.

But be assured, we will still have a military presence there. A phased withdrawal will be his way to have his cake and eat it too.

That is why the election is so important. The Dems need a way to seize control so they can influence the future of a historic catastrophe and guide it towards a humanitarian conclusion if that is at all possible.

Bush’s aim is to leave the next president holding the bag.