Go Blue, win it for Bo!

where do I go to vote no on this particular boondoggle?

Fitz

Clusteruck

Taylor

Him and what army?

That would be, ahem, “ClusterFuck”

Remember when people were loudly mocked for saying that the invasion and occupation of Iraq would cost hundreds of billions of dollars?

Remember the folks who said that it would effectively pay for itself, via the oil?

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Oh that Bush. He’s a real card, isn’t he? “Whoops, I got my hand caught in the wood chipper. Well, I might as well just shove it in up to the elbow.”

The man is deranged.

Lakoff and framing:

US involvement in Iraq is no longer a war.

It’s an occupation.

Bearpaw at 8 — remember when those people were Shensecki’ed cashiered out of the Army…great post, Taylor. And the graphic? Priceless. Bushie as GI Joe.

EvilDrPuma @
6

Him and what army?

Exactly. We’re being turned into slaves, you know?

Instead of taxes going to promote the general defense and the common welfare, all the money is being sucked up out of the American economy and into the Multinational Corporation Defense Fund and Aristocrat Protection Foundation.

To answer “what army?” I’d say this: As in pre-1830 England, the army will be filled with those who can find no other place in the economy. In this iteration, the children of the great American middle class of the late 20th century.

Bush’s hunt for victory is a snipe hunt. He’s got a big bag in his hand, and he’s waiting in the dark for the generals to drive the snipe right into it.

Of course, that’s a body bag George is holding, and there’s no snipe to be had.

when the president says;

“at a time of war Americans need to sacrifice, as they have during every time of need, Americans need to rise to the occasion, we need to FUND THE WAR, we need to CONSTRICT our armed forces, the DEFENSE INDUSTRY IS NOW FEDERALIZED, there is no profit in war allowed and anyone that profiteers is tried as a war criminal, we NEED the right equiptment AND WE NEED IT FAST, BEFORE WE RISK MORE LIVES

EVERYONE OF AGE SERVES

there will be OVERSITE and ANY INDUSTRY that cheats or steals resources from our soldeirs is tried for treason and as a war criminal”

when the president then says

“MY CHILDREN WILL BE FIRST TO SERVE, they will be on the front line and yours will serve too”

THAT’S when he MIGHT be able to “escalate”, and untill he wants to put HIS SKIN IN THE GAME, HE HAS TO SHUT HIS FACE

If I heard Senator Warner correctly, he is concerned about issues of command and control in the U.S. military “all the way up to President Bush.”

Wo.

I can’t believe all the Vietnam veterans who are now Generals, Admirals and Senators would do this to the current generation of soldiers. Didn’t the Pentagon give Westmoreland 500,000 troops? How’d that work?

This is as shameful as it gets.

adding 20,000 more troops, (meaning) let’s spend more money, boys and girls.

Actually, meaning – let’s spend more boys and girls – unfortunately.

lina @ 16

This is as shameful as it gets.

I’ve said that before. Bush always manages to exceed my lowest expectations.

Bringing this comment forward as it seems to fit this thread better:

egregious @ 116

I just had an inspiration. What if the Iraq Study Group has nothing to do with Iraq, but instead is charged with discussing presidential and/or vice presidential succession?

If you go thru the list of names, they make a lot more sense from this perspective. Hence for example, Sandra Day O’Connor.

Add this to Senator Warner’s comment about being concerned re issues of command and control in the U.S. military all the way to the top….I don’t know where this leads, but it is unsettling.

That UCLA student is suing.

And look, the Taser manufacturer presents Taser Awards!

“The incident [at Powell Library] follows the recent announcement that four of the campus police department’s nearly 60 full-time sworn officers had won so-called Taser Awards granted by the manufacturer of the device to “law enforcement officers who save a life in the line of duty through extraordinary use of the Taser.” The award stemmed from an incident in which officers subdued a patient who allegedly threatened staff at the campus’ Neuropsychiatric Hospital with metal scissors.

Jeff Young, assistant police chief, declined to indicate whether any of the honored officers were among the several involved in Tuesday’s incident.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo…..d-homepage

Of course, his initial request will be greatly inflated since Bush knows the final amount will be whittled down. In the end he’ll get as much or even more than he really wanted, lest anyone be accused of undermining the troops. That is, UNLESS the Dems actually stand up for what’s right and yank the funding for this fiasco.

EvilDrPuma @ 18

lina @ 16

This is as shameful as it gets.

I’ve said that before. Bush always manages to exceed my lowest expectations.

I don’t expect any better from Bush. He is an idiot. But there are a bunch of powerful people going along with this lunacy who know better.

Well they were going to ask for $160 billion so I guess we are getting a bargain.

catfood @ 21

Of course, his initial request will be greatly inflated since Bush knows the final amount will be whittled down. In the end he’ll get as much or even more than he really wanted, lest anyone be accused of undermining the troops. That is, UNLESS the Dems actually stand up for what’s right and yank the funding for this fiasco.

someone on a previous thread made the point that after shifts, eating, etc is taken into consideration, 20,000 troops translates into an increase of about 5000 in actual manpower.

20,000 troops is to do something subversive, personally I think it’s some kind of “squad” to “tidy things up”

The introduction of 20,000 more targets into Iraq will do nothing more than improve the aggregate marksmanship of the “terrists.”

What’s needed is the addition of 200,000 — minimally. But, the window of opportunity there has long been welded shut (and we don’t have them in any event).

This has been destined for failure since prior to Day One, unsurprisingly, in light of Bush’s life-long record of dilettante-esqe bunglings.
_

Few, so far, are appreciating the irony.

Yeah, that’s because this is so far beyond any possible logical or rational American leadership that….that…sputter…sputter….

There are no words!
For this evil
For these evil people
For this level of death and destruction
And it’s all so very very
Unnecessary–
Even if we didn’t understand before the 1960’s,
We only have to look back 35 years
Read the on-line archive and recent history
To understand:
To act this way is nothing less than
Evil
And our dollars, our children’s lives,
Are paying for our Evil actions.

We have to ratchet up this fight.
This is not a political game,
This is a fight for nothing less
Then our soul.

I’m gonna bet… that this “one last big push” will run from, oh, January 1 2007 until, say- July 2008? That way Bush gets to play big bad soldier and push for all sorts of nifty power baubles, but he can pull out in time to salvage the GOP’s ticket in 2008. Not that the ticket will not be running against him moreso than Democrats, but just so that the ticket doesn’t have to do more than clean up that small fraction of the mess wev’e decided to clean up. Mind you- Americans will never clean up the whole mess because we’re going to want to forget Iraq as quickly as possible.

this is rich..mccain is saying out load bush is breaking the law…how the mighty become fodder eh?

McCain: Bush Admin Breaks Laws to Hide Global Warming Data
By Justin Rood – November 17, 2006, 1:35 PM
“They’re simply not complying with the law. It’s incredible.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) raised eyebrows yesterday with that comment regarding the Bush administration, made before a crowd of several hundred at a Washington, D.C. event

if only he would have done that for torture, I would have contained a little respect for the man

Again, where are the 20,000 coming from? South Korea? Westmoreland asking for 500K is one thing, but even if they could get ‘em what good can they do?

For a fraction of next year’s bill for Iraq
we could finance resettling every palestinian
refugee in the camps . With generous stipends to them and to the countries that are willing to take them. Maybe that offer could help to dissolve the log jam in the Isrealie/Arab negotiation- theoretically those refugees were the reason Arafat rejected the Camp David/Taba agreement.

Maybe it would reduce the number of moslems willing to die to injure us.

Certainly it would be a good thing to do.

Not only was he not serving in Vietnam, he wasn’t paying attention to the disintegration of support for the war on this side of the ocean.

He can’t spend his way out of this one. He can’t spin his way out.

And if he thinks that he can wander in and out of Iran and Syria like they were Thailand and Cambodia in the 60’s, he’s got another thing coming.

The mentality here is simple: They think that the only reason we haven’t “won” yet is because we haven’t been trying hard enough. That’s how delusional the Bush administration is right now.

Frank Probst @ 32

The mentality here is simple: They think that the only reason we haven’t “won” yet is because we haven’t been trying hard enough. That’s how delusional the Bush administration is right now.

“It’s hard work” being so fucking stupid.
_

Requesting more money at this point, smells like a setup, expecting it to get shot down so blame can be laid on the Dems, see we lost because they wouldn’t help us win.

Anything to distract from possible lines of investigation and subsequent questioning.

Time to get out NOW …

more troops is just more horror …

Gee, 20,000 more troops. Isn’t that McCain’s plan? How neat! We get to see how it works before we consider him as a candidate!

‘Seven Days in Crawford’?
(damn. well NOW I’ve learnt a bit on using the strike thru feature: should have ‘May’ struck thru…get it?)
-
Maybe ‘cid in the branchwater plus Diamanda on iPod would work better.
WARNING: Could result in ‘Out of Iraq NOW’ memo.
(winner by acclamation ‘Evil Genius’ award from last thread.)
——
Not trying to be casul/flip. ‘Exceeding lowest expectations’ indeed.
Scorn/derision.
Heaping helpings of both, please.

Voters VOTED for that. Obstinate ego-centric war-criminal prick.

terry in AZ @ 36

Gee, 20,000 more troops. Isn’t that McCain’s plan? How neat! We get to see how it works before we consider him as a candidate!

We don’t have the metrics to determine precisely how bad an idea this is, so obviously we need to try it. It could merely be a complete calamity and not an utter debacle.

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

To see how very well this is going … make sure you keep trackin of Today in Iraq:

http://www.dailywarnews.blogspot.com/

EvilDrPuma @ 38

terry in AZ @ 36

Gee, 20,000 more troops. Isn’t that McCain’s plan? How neat! We get to see how it works before we consider him as a candidate!

We don’t have the metrics to determine precisely how bad an idea this is, so obviously we need to try it. It could merely be a complete calamity and not an utter debacle.

cute, but really, that is exactly what the president seems to with every decisions he makes

US plans last big push in Iraq

Strategy document calls for extra 20,000 troops, aid for Iraqi army and regional summit

http://politics.guardian.co.uk…..49,00.html

This story traces back to a Britsh, um, you know, tabloid

I dunno

Dover Bitch @
39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Yep. I also found that ‘ironic’ to say the least.

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

wow, now that is a very nice way to frame it, nicely done

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Yeah, you’re not the only one. Watch for the pictures later – the State Department protocol officer will be the one with a hand-shaped bruise on his/her forehead from slapping it so hard. “Noooooooo. . .”

drpuma is right, we are being turned into slaves.
my guess, and they are almost always really awful, is that the person making this policy saw robocop and thought that would be cool for the country. after all, there was a movie about it to create another god

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

The sheer stupidity, narrow-mindedness and audacity of W and his people is beyond comprehension.
What a f$^#ing embarassment

close the bold. the extra troops will come from excelerated rotation of the guard and reserve

Moderator(s) – please close the bold tag appearing in the middle of comment 30 at 1:29 pm. Thank you very much for your help.

Refresh – it should be fixed now.

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Bush on a diplomatic mission is a completely self-defeating premise. Clearly, the purpose of this visit is to restart that war.

So is Rover really on the way out? Or is someone just trying to shiv him? I’m really not sure. I think Rove is so sleazy that he probably keeps dirt on his own wife just to keep her in line, so he probably has enough dirt on his enemies to stay put. But I also think Bush is so petulant and shallow that he’d stangle his own dog if he thought Barney was in any way responsible for the midterm elections. I’m so torn here. I’m guessing someone high up (Condi? Is that you?) realizes that Rove isn’t going to look very good when the rapidly-approaching Libby trial gears up. And now the Dems have subpoena power. I think a cut-and-run strategy with respect to Rove is a very good political strategy for just about everybody involved except Rove. What’s everyone else’s take?

perris, formerly known as me to me, @ 41

EvilDrPuma @ 38

terry in AZ @ 36

Gee, 20,000 more troops. Isn’t that McCain’s plan? How neat! We get to see how it works before we consider him as a candidate!

We don’t have the metrics to determine precisely how bad an idea this is, so obviously we need to try it. It could merely be a complete calamity and not an utter debacle.

cute, but really, that is exactly what the president seems to with every decisions he makes

You didn’t really think I was joking, did you?

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Not only is he a fucking moron, but it’s well known that he doesn’t travel well. What few brain cells he has online won’t boot when he’s jet lagged and not having his normal schedule. Blue screen, indeed.

I caught the last part of Dana Milbank on KO last night talking about the next big push. What disturbed me was that Milbank said nobody thought it would do any good but it was a face saving ploy for Bush. To Dana it was no big deal. Who the fuck want their family member to die or be maimed to save face for GWB.

As far a Vietnam goes, I think 5,000 Americans had died by the time the Johnson administration knew it was hopeless. 50,000 more died because they didn’t want to loose face and appear soft on communism.

Maybe he’ll hurl on someone just so he can be like his old man

Twisted Martini @ 56

Maybe he’ll hurl on someone just so he can be like his old man

He’s hurling all over the whole fucking planet.

EvilDrPuma @ 51

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Bush on a diplomatic mission is a completely self-defeating premise. Clearly, the purpose of this visit is to restart that war.

Picture the Vietnamese translator, doing the real-time translation work. There had to have been a pause before the translation came out: Did he just say what I think he said?

He’s hurling all over the whole fucking planet.

Actually he’s got it coming out of both ends all over the planet.

Steve @ 55

I caught the last part of Dana Milbank on KO last night talking about the next big push. What disturbed me was that Milbank said nobody thought it would do any good but it was a face saving ploy for Bush. To Dana it was no big deal. Who the fuck want their family member to die or be maimed to save face for GWB.

As far a Vietnam goes, I think 5,000 Americans had died by the time the Johnson administration knew it was hopeless. 50,000 more died because they didn’t want to loose face and appear soft on communism.

That’s right. We need to stop it now. No more money for this. No more troops. Nada, nunca, fini.

There shoud seriously be something put in place to keep shrub in the U.S. for the next two years to try and minimize the damage.

With all the out of work GOP staffers, surely they have more than 20,000 they can send.

I think old man Bush is getting rid of old Turdblossom for the second time.

-GSD

Peterr @ 58

Picture the Vietnamese translator, doing the real-time translation work. There had to have been a pause before the translation came out: Did he just say what I think he said?

Probably followed by, Sweet Buddha of mercy, this braindead crackerbilly is going to get me lynched!

Mary4 @ 62

With all the out of work GOP staffers, surely they have more than 20,000 they can send.

Does the DOD have a recruiting office on K Street? Might be a good time to open one . . .

Like Lewis Black said, I do believe a group of citizens should march on DC and treat Chimpy McPreznit and his pals Kissinger, Cheney, Rove and the gang to an afternoon of electroshock therapy after this announcement.

George is so well informed. From the WaPo:

On his drive into Hanoi, Bush passed many sites of note here, including the tomb of Ho Chi Minh and Truc Bach Lake, where Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was shot down in 1967 when he was a Navy pilot. McCain was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years.

“Laura and I were talking about — we were talking about how amazing it is we’re here in Vietnam,” Bush said. “And one of the most poignant moments of the drive in was passing the lake where John McCain got pulled out of the lake. And he’s a friend of ours; he suffered a lot as a result of his imprisonment, and yet, we passed the place where he was, literally, saved, in one way, by the people pulling him out.”

In fact, according to McCain, who broke both arms and his right knee while ejecting from his A-4 Skyhawk, he was hauled out of the lake on two bamboo poles and beaten on the shore by an angry mob.

Clueless George Goes Abroad

Also I have learned the last two weeks that the Republicans really won the elections, Bush is still relevent and powerful, the Democrats are in a civil war and that Nancy Pelosi is mortally wounded as Speaker of the House.

-GSD

From MacNamara’s memoir, the mistakes we made in Viet Nam. Don’t they seem eerily apropos today? (via an old Billmon post.)

1. We misjudged then — as we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.

2. We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience. We saw in them a thirst for–and a determination to fight for — freedom and democracy. We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.

3. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people… to fight and die for their beliefs and values — and we continue to do so today in many parts of the world.

4. Our misjudgments of friend and foe alike reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.

5. We failed then — as we have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology equipment, forces and doctrine in confronting unconventional, highly motivated people’s movements. We failed as well to adapt our military forces to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.

6. We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale U.S. military involvement … before we initiated the action.

7. After the action got underway and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course, we failed to retain popular support in part because we did not explain fully what was happening and why we were doing what we did. We had not prepared the public to understand the complex events we faced and how to react constructively to the need for changes in course as the nation confronted uncharted seas and an alien environment. A nation’s deepest strength lies not in military prowess but, rather, in the the unity of its people. We failed to maintain it.

8. We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Where our own security is not directly at stake, our judgment of what is in another people’s or country’s best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our own image or as we choose.

9. We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action — other than in response to direct threats to our own security — should be carried out only in conjuction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.

10. We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … at times, we may have to live an imperfect, untidy world.

11. Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.

It’s one “last big push,” which includes adding 20,000 more troops.

Every life is precious and every death is a disaster, but 20,000 more troops is a small push. The Master of Low Expectations is at home in the Negative, and that’s where he has mapped his plan for victory, declaring it in Vietnam, of all places: “We’ll succeed unless we quit.” (I could do without the “we” business.) As long as his war doesn’t end, he doesn’t fail.

He would prefer that we and the Iraqis continue to kill one another until the war becomes someone else’s problem. It’s a war, not a problem, and any sane president would be trying to end it.

EvilDrPuma @ 64

Peterr @ 58

Picture the Vietnamese translator, doing the real-time translation work. There had to have been a pause before the translation came out: Did he just say what I think he said?

Probably followed by, Sweet Buddha of mercy, this braindead crackerbilly is going to get me lynched!

No, there was probably a pool among the diplomatic types about Bush putting his foot in his mouth. The second pause was the translator trying to figure out who won.

@48.. That’s basically what I heard on NPR this afternoon. Deployment notification has gone out to 60,000 active duty, reserve, and guard units for troop rotation. What they didn’t say was that the in country units would be extended to provide the 20,000 additional troops.

GSD @ 68

Also I have learned the last two weeks that the Republicans really won the elections, Bush is still relevent and powerful, the Democrats are in a civil war and that Nancy Pelosi is mortally wounded as Speaker of the House.

-GSD

Just depressing isn’t it!

OT-Timmeh this Sun:
Webb & Tester (via atrios)!

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..bb-tester/

EvilDrPuma @ 57

Twisted Martini @ 56

Maybe he’ll hurl on someone just so he can be like his old man

He’s hurling all over the whole fucking planet.

Perhaps his hosts can offer him an agent orange creme brulee and use napalm to provide the delicious caramalized crust on top.

(A sure recipe for hurling.)

And a hearty ROTFLMAO for your 64.

We have two ethical options, and both should be implemented:

1) Impeach the President
2) Charge him with war crimes

Perhaps we should all be supporting this:

http://pdamerica.org/petition/…..tition.php

Rep McGovern calls for end to funding – needs signatures.

dead last @ 76

We have two ethical options, and both should be implemented:

1) Impeach the President
2) Charge him with war crimes

We’d better do it or forget having a country, much less a political party. I’m quite worried about this. I don’t have the same trust in bipartisanship and investigative reporters doing their job that I had during Watergate.

For pretty obvious reasons…

I think we should, Siun at 77.

It’s beyond time to shut down the free flow of money to fund this monstrosity.

It will force the admin to “change course” and leave and we can all withstand the cries of the screaming warmongers for sure.

AZ Matt @
73

GSD @ 68

Also I have learned the last two weeks that the Republicans really won the elections, Bush is still relevent and powerful, the Democrats are in a civil war and that Nancy Pelosi is mortally wounded as Speaker of the House.

-GSD

Just depressing isn’t it!

Despite the sheer crapitude of it all, it still won’t change much of the reality. Pelosi and company will hold hearings and they will pass bills that are beneficial.

The laggards in the media will get on board by hook or by crook.

-GSD

re perris, formerly known as me to me, @ 14

It really bothers me that not a single member of the press is willing to ask Bush or his spokes people why no one related to Bush is willing to serve in his war. It should be asked at every opportunity, but especially when Bush is talking tough.

Oh that would be rude. Let’s not talk about the steaming pile of shit in the middle of the table, just eat hearty!

GSD @ 80

AZ Matt @
73

GSD @ 68

Also I have learned the last two weeks that the Republicans really won the elections, Bush is still relevent and powerful, the Democrats are in a civil war and that Nancy Pelosi is mortally wounded as Speaker of the House.

-GSD

Just depressing isn’t it!

Despite the sheer crapitude of it all, it still won’t change much of the reality. Pelosi and company will hold hearings and they will pass bills that are beneficial.

The laggards in the media will get on board by hook or by crook.

-GSD

Look at it this way: The new congressional year starts in January so think of this as a late and extra Christmas Gift! You can watch the ribbon being slowly untied to reveal the goodies inside. It will be torture for Republicans but they are fond of that anyway.

In ” Oh What a Lovely War” the clueless British Army Commander is always pleading for -”Just one more push” . While on the screen behind the stage there is a rolling list of the hundreds of thousand casualties associated with each “push”.

“When will they ever learn ?”

Dover Bitch @ 1:37 pm (#39)

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Ironic particularly since our decision not to continue the bombing to the point of absurdity is one of the reasons Vietnam has been willing to talk to us.

A taste of Vietnamese music and some translation of the lyrics, with all this talk about Vietnam and Bush’s visit. It’s a duet with Ngoc Ha and Dang Luan, about first love and regrets about the lost innocents being far from the womb.

Here are some of my translations:

Female vocalist:
Do you ever think back, about that spring?
A time when we were so young and foolish…

making all those promises and expressing our ideals
only to wait and wait and wait…

Does it ever feel like spring wherever you are?
and the people are genuine and the smiles are real.

…

Male vocalist:

Please… give me my innocent smile back,
that blossomed on the lips of my love.

Please… give me back my childhood love,
before I understood the meaning of pain.

Please… give me back that love that was so passionate,
that my mind have constantly longed for… eversince.

Please… allow my heart, to send you these words,
to you, my long lost child/love of my life.

Yes, I like this song and yes, it’s corny and yes, I embellished it a little; but this is my interpretation of it as I try to capture the spirit of the song. Tell me if you guys want me to translate more.

And here is some news from my hometown San Diego:
Francine Busby concedes defeat & Jerry Sanders’ nomination of Alan Bersin for the executive committee position.

It is shameful that San Diego have not pursued the carpetbagger’s story early on in this election, and perhaps could make this race closer and more representative of the change that is on the minds of Americans all across our country. And it is a crying shame that the iron grips of gerrymanderng and the twisted logic perverting our conservative values, have managed again to suppress the underlying hopes & thoughts of average San Diegans. There is too much at stake in San Diego for change to come easily from half-hearted will. Francine gave us our only hope, because we so deeply want change, but the fabric of San Diego is not to be…and the carpetbagger story will be swept under the rug with the crimson stain of Duke Cunningham’s deeds now firmly embroidered into it. Rise up San Diegans, for it will take a lot more, than what was needed to re-take the Senate.

This makes me angry and sick. Not only is King Loser traipsing about the planet making a complete moron of himself (didn’t this doofus supposedly get a degree in history?),he’s still willing to spend blood and treasure on this madness? It’s time to treat him like a kid who can’t manage an allowance. Cut.Him.Off.

Could we please just make him stay on “the ranch”for the next two years?

Well, at least you will have the satisfaction to have created at least three countries out of one

Who is the dirty culprit that keeps teaching this ass new words? They need to put a sock in it. I love chicken hawk down. I have a Republican that just has to have that e-mailed to him.

Ivo Moelans @ 88

Well, at least you will have the satisfaction to have created at least three countries out of one

if he has his way, that would be two countries out of one which used to be three countries

Peterr @ 65

Mary4 @ 62

With all the out of work GOP staffers, surely they have more than 20,000 they can send.

Does the DOD have a recruiting office on K Street? Might be a good time to open one . . .

Imagining yellow shades of camo outfits. Desert Brooks Brothers opening soon.

McCain must be stopped for more reasons than I have fingers and toes. There’s only 24 short months to do this. And time do fly. We need to coalesce.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 92

McCain must be stopped for more reasons than I have fingers and toes. There’s only 24 short months to do this. And time do fly. We need to coalesce.

well, he’ll be running with either liarman or guilianni

Siun @
77

Perhaps we should all be supporting this:

http://pdamerica.org/petition/…..tition.php

Rep McGovern calls for end to funding – needs signatures.

How about this theory. Bush wants the Dems to cut off funding. Then the Rethugs can blame the Dems for the fiasco. Again reflections of Vietnam. The Reich Wing blames the home front (protestors) for losing.

Steve @ 1:45 pm (#55)

I caught the last part of Dana Milbank on KO last night talking about the next big push. What disturbed me was that Milbank said nobody thought it would do any good but it was a face saving ploy for Bush. To Dana it was no big deal. Who the fuck want their family member to die or be maimed to save face for GWB.

As far a Vietnam goes, I think 5,000 Americans had died by the time the Johnson administration knew it was hopeless. 50,000 more died because they didn’t want to loose face and appear soft on communism.

I don’t know quite when Johnson decided the war was hopeless, but it was probably after Westmoreland asked for another 100k troops or so more than the 500k that were already over there. That happened either late in 1967 or early 1968. You can pretty much start counting the casualties after that as “face saving”. That’s about 3/5 to 2/3 of the total csualties.

Don @ 94

How about this theory. Bush wants the Dems to cut off funding. Then the Rethugs can blame the Dems for the fiasco. Again reflections of Vietnam. The Reich Wing blames the home front (protestors) for losing.

Two points:

One: This scenario can only work as long as no substantive investigations reveal any part of the real scope and severity of the misconduct of Bush’s war. Meaning, until about…oh, say, January.

Two: You build your scenario on the hoary Bushco-as-supervillainous-masterminds premise. That is so 2004.

There are going to be some very interesting comments during the hearing on this money and troops – especially from Lieberman. He is already salivating over the idea that he can ’stand by his man’ and thumb his nose at the American people and soldiers.

It IS going to get worse before anything gets better. And I sure hope the dems are ready to counter this because the accusations will be flying fast and furious.

Badwater @
81

re perris, formerly known as me to me, @ 14

It really bothers me that not a single member of the press is willing to ask Bush or his spokes people why no one related to Bush is willing to serve in his war. It should be asked at every opportunity, but especially when Bush is talking tough.

Good idea. I ask GOP friends why they aren’t already over there, if this is a war that must be won. They aren’t happy with the question.

EvilDrPuma @ 2:25 pm (#96)

One: This scenario can only work as long as no substantive investigations reveal any part of the real scope and severity of the misconduct of Bush’s war. Meaning, until about…oh, say, January.

Bush and Co. have shown an amazing talent for delaying investigations by selective classification and other dodges. I’m all for investigations, but they’re likely to drag on for some time, at least if history is any guide.

Don’t count your chickenhawks before they’re down. ;-)

After the election there are incentives on every side to reduce troop exposure. My original interpretation of the “Final Push” was that it would provide American forces the troops needed for the long withdrawal.

Bush is isolated and his own party may aid him in his political self-immolation. They certainly don’t want to have Iraq hanging around their necks in 2008. The Democrats and the military will box him in. Bush is headed into Nixon territory.

If not, America goes with Bush beyond the looking glass. Let us hope the adults step in.

Steve @ 55

I caught the last part of Dana Milbank on KO last night talking about the next big push. What disturbed me was that Milbank said nobody thought it would do any good but it was a face saving ploy for Bush. To Dana it was no big deal. Who the fuck want their family member to die or be maimed to save face for GWB.

As far a Vietnam goes, I think 5,000 Americans had died by the time the Johnson administration knew it was hopeless. 50,000 more died because they didn’t want to loose face and appear soft on communism.

To give Lou Dobbs some credit, when this point was raised on his show the other day he expressed total disgust that one more American service person should have to die to save Bush’s face.

Rumours persist here (and I have heard them repeated at a very senior level in the UK, too) that Bush has actually resumed drinking; I throw this into the mix not to sensationalise, but because I have now heard the rumour repeated at a sufficiently high level that I believe we must face the possibility that it might be true.

Bush was huddled inside the White House eating beef and ice cream on election night with Rove, my friend Josh Bolten, and four other trusted aides who will stick with him to the end. He was not drinking on this occasion, I’m assured – but, more than ever, my depiction of an unstable man living out his final days in office inside his bunker seem no longer to be fanciful. Hemmed in by Democratic foes wherever he looks, determined to be remembered in history as an unwaveringly strong leader, and increasingly detached from reality: now that suddenly becomes a very frightening vision indeed.

Andrew Stephen
November 13, 2006
New Statesman

perris, formerly known as me to me, @ 93

Oklahoma kiddo @ 92

McCain must be stopped for more reasons than I have fingers and toes. There’s only 24 short months to do this. And time do fly. We need to coalesce.

well, he’ll be running with either liarman or guilianni

Or how about this combo: McCain/Gingrich. Of course one might conclude; never happen, based on Newt’s political disgrace, re. the so-called “Contract w/America”. Well, perhaps. But look how Boehner just got back in. And he went down w/Newtie back then. Just musing.

If we nominate the right Demo candidate, these butt-brains can be beaten.

Of course I can definitely see Lieberman or Rudy too boarding the crooked talk express.

And of course, we might be dealing with Clinton/Lieberman in 2008. Such dark fantasies.

Mr. Bush:

You have the right to remain stupid.

Given that you have no choice but to remain stupid, everything you say will be used against you.
_

LindaR @ 101

Steve @ 55

I caught the last part of Dana Milbank on KO last night talking about the next big push. What disturbed me was that Milbank said nobody thought it would do any good but it was a face saving ploy for Bush. To Dana it was no big deal. Who the fuck want their family member to die or be maimed to save face for GWB.

As far a Vietnam goes, I think 5,000 Americans had died by the time the Johnson administration knew it was hopeless. 50,000 more died because they didn’t want to loose face and appear soft on communism.

To give Lou Dobbs some credit, when this point was raised on his show the other day he expressed total disgust that one more American service person should have to die to save Bush’s face.

This? ; )

DOBBS: General Grange, I have to tell you, as Tom Ricks says that, 18 months. You are going to have to put me down as unpatriotic and soft on Iraq. The idea of losing more Americans over the course of a year and a half does not sit well with me. It sticks in my craw. Because I don’t see clear goals, clear strategy. And I don’t think a lot of Americans do, either.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA…..dt.01.html

Re the 2007 Defense budget:

The act provides $462.8 billion in budget authority for the department. Senate and House conferees added the $70 billion defense supplemental budget request to the act, so overall, the act authorizes $532.8 billion for fiscal 2007

http://www.defenselink.mil/New…..px?id=1650

Because of the duration of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a move to include their costs in the regular defense budget instead of treating them as one off emergency expenses. The $70 billion listed probably does will not cover the costs through FY 2007 and so a further supplemental will be necessary.

The $160 billion figure has a different, separate source.

The services’ latest budget requests appear to be a reaction to an Oct. 25 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England that expanded the “ground rules” for the fiscal 2007 supplemental by allowing inclusion of all costs related to the war on terrorism. Previously, the Pentagon has largely limited its supplemental requests to money needed to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.raidersnewsnetwork……p?news=425

What is interesting about this number is not that it is an accounting fluke or there was ever a prayer that it was going to be budgeted but rather that it represents an attack on Rumsfeld by the uniformed military who wanted to signal how dysfunctional and unready our armed services have become.

Head for the hills if Bush starts growing a small mustache.

-GSD

Has history ever recycled a losing Veep candidate?

I am pretty sure that Boltin’Joe’s multiple trips to the electoral well only to come up empty might leave him that odd man out.

-GSD

i say, give bush all the money and all the troops he wants. bankrupt the treasury and break the military, if necessary! THEN, if the american people balk at bush’s boots-and-budget escalation, the dems can bear the people’s standard and take up the fight. BUT we dems are surely being set up here for the inevitable “who lost iraq” debate. wise up! let’s not get ahead of the people who have a consensus ONLY on “stay the course” ” but not on what new course to take.

Peterr @
45

Dover Bitch @ 39

I cannot believe the President of the United States stood in front of a microphone IN VIETNAM ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION and basically said that the lesson he learned from the war was that we should have continued to bomb them.

Yeah, you’re not the only one. Watch for the pictures later – the State Department protocol officer will be the one with a hand-shaped bruise on his/her forehead from slapping it so hard. “Noooooooo. . .”

I joked the other day about imagining Bush in a couple years muttering to his dog echoes of Nixon’s farewell address “… only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain …” etc., etc.

But now Wolcott has me thinking about the horrifying thought of Bush going Nixon even sooner.

All; I’m not sick of the word: “Escalation”..

I think it’s a great word. :o)

As goatboy sends another 20,000 of our troops into the shitmire, I’d like to hear every talking head on the tube using it. :o)

There are a lot of people still around who remember that it isn’t about going up to another floor in a department store. :o)

Cozumel @ 105 — yep, you’re on the job! I had forgotten the wording, but that was it.

billofwrites @ 109

i say, give bush all the money and all the troops he wants. bankrupt the treasury and break the military, if necessary! THEN, if the american people balk at bush’s boots-and-budget escalation, the dems can bear the people’s standard and take up the fight. BUT we dems are surely being set up here for the inevitable “who lost iraq” debate. wise up! let’s not get ahead of the people who have a consensus ONLY on “stay the course” ” but not on what new course to take.

And may I assume that you will be signing up to get blown up by an IED for the greater glory of that eventual downfall? Or maybe you just don’t mind if other people die while you play political games.

If it’s Friday, it must be time to Take Out The Trash! From the AP, posted at the WaPo:

Bush May Limit Scope of Iran Sanctions

By BARRY SCHWEID
The Associated Press
Friday, November 17, 2006; 3:44 PM

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is offering to narrow the scope of proposed U.N. sanctions designed to force Iran to cease enrichment of uranium, a State Department official said Friday. . .

Seems like Barry may have used the wrong verb in that opening sentence. It probably ought to read “The Bush administration has been forced to narrow the scope of proposed U.N. sanctions . . .” Bush doesn’t offer anything to anyone. Ever. He does what he can, unless forced to do otherwise. Always.

Senate and House Democrats, take note.

(I’m sure it’s just coincidence that this came out at 3:44 PM on a Friday.)

salon.com – already posted?:

Condi’s Iraq surprise

In a secret end run around Cheney and Rumsfeld, the secretary of state pressed Bush to back the Iraq Study Group — and change the course of the war.

By Mark Benjamin

…
It has been widely speculated that George H.W. Bush, the president’s father, turned to his trusted former advisor Baker to help orchestrate the Iraq Study Group to clean up the Iraq mess. But the little-known story of how the panel came into being began not with Baker, but with a congressman’s effort to call it like he saw it in Iraq — and with Rice’s maneuvering to sidestep an entrenched Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It set in motion the unlikely scenario now playing out in Washington in which an independent panel is about to counsel a White House not typically known as receptive to outside advice on the war….

REPORT: Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White House In ‘Weeks, Not Months’

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..departure/

It is a pretty sad comment, but Murtha lost out to Hoyer at about the same time as one of his many correct statements about the Iraqmire was being proven.

Over and over Murtha has argued the nuts and bolts of the supply convoy issues. A huge problem that neither adding nor subtracting troops really addresses. And what do we see happening right now?

It’s a sad thing when getting it right in America insures that you will continue to be discounted in the future.

“What with President Johnson practicing escalatio on the Vietnamese and then the Dominican crisis on top of that it has been a nervous year and people have begun to feel like a Christian scientist with appendicitis.”

-Tom Lehrer, ~1965

Sen. John Warner (R-VA) announced
that he will seek the top Republican spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee, aiming to push aside outgoing Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK). Warner said, “As the senior Republican on the Senate EPW Committee, I intend to submit my name for election as the ranking minority member of that panel.” Incoming Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) “has said that addressing global warming will be the committee’s top issue to address in the next Congress.”

new thread

Peterr,

Of course, one of the problems with sanctions against Iran is that we have had them for years so we are not really asking anything new from ourselves but are asking others to give something up by enacting them. For some reason, they are not eager to do this, especially given the track record of success which we have had with our own sanctions regime. Totally inexplicable. The timing of Bush’s announcement too.

It’s a sad thing when getting it right in America insures that you will continue to be discounted in the future.

It is tragic.

twolf1– good.

Inhofe don’t believe in that global warming stoffe.

Idiot.

btw, Kucinich making sense to a senseless Tucker.

(Dennis can speak for me anytime when it comes to war and peace!)

As with all things bush, they’re once again politicizing the invasion. Bush’s “last push” in his lost cause vanity war is meant to force the newly elected democratic congress to cut off funding. And we all know what happens if they actually do that (i.e., do what the American people elected them to do – get US soldiers OUT of Iraq, NOT escalate).

It’s a political win-win for the bushliar-criminal: if democrats deny funding the “last push”, republicans and US corporate media will be all too thrilled to wind up the howling beast to heights never seen; if democrats go along they betray the people that just elected them.

Escalation is of course yet another republican disaster to be visited upon US soldiers, Iraqis, and US taxpayers, but that is of no concern to the bushliar-criminal, his criminal family, and the criminal cult of republicanism.
.

As Jesus said, “it is easier to debate with a drunk man, than to go through the eye of a camel.” BRING IT ON GEORGIE

bellumregio @
102

Rumours persist here (and I have heard them repeated at a very senior level in the UK, too) that Bush has actually resumed drinking; I throw this into the mix not to sensationalise, but because I have now heard the rumour repeated at a sufficiently high level that I believe we must face the possibility that it might be true.

Bush was huddled inside the White House eating beef and ice cream on election night with Rove, my friend Josh Bolten, and four other trusted aides who will stick with him to the end. He was not drinking on this occasion, I’m assured – but, more than ever, my depiction of an unstable man living out his final days in office inside his bunker seem no longer to be fanciful. Hemmed in by Democratic foes wherever he looks, determined to be remembered in history as an unwaveringly strong leader, and increasingly detached from reality: now that suddenly becomes a very frightening vision indeed.

Andrew Stephen
November 13, 2006
New Statesman

WASHINGTON — A Senate Democrat who will chair its Judiciary Committee next year asked the Justice Department to release newly acknowledged documents setting U.S. policy on how suspects in the war on terrorism are detained and interrogated.

“The American people deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism and concern at home and around the world,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wrote Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Leahy demanded two documents whose existence the CIA recently acknowledged in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“If President Bush and the Justice Department authorized the CIA to torture its prisoners, the public has a right to know,” said Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney involved in the case.

The first document is a directive Bush signed giving the CIA authority to set up detention facilities outside the U.S. and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees.

The second is a 2002 memo from the Justice Department’s office of Legal Counsel to the CIA General Counsel regarding interrogation methods that the spy agency may use against top al Qaida members.

Leahy asked Gonzales to produce any revisions and analyses of those and other memos. He also requested agency documents that interpret the scope of interrogation practices permitted and prohibited by the detainee Treatment Act or the Military Commissions Act.

A Justice Department spokesman had no immediate comment

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01446.html

“And may I assume that you will be signing up to get blown up by an IED for the greater glory of that eventual downfall? Or maybe you just don’t mind if other people die while you play political games.”

no, evildrpuma, i will not be signing up. and, no, i don’t mind if freely-choosing volunteer troops die while the totalfuckingidiot leaders they’ve agreed to follow — leaders freely elected by the people — play political games. as always, it’s the troops’ choice and it’s the people’s choice. the unspoken thing about this midterm election is the american people saying to the dems: “oh boo hoo hoo, oops, we messed up in 2000 and 2004. oh, please, dems, please save us from ourselves so we can blame YOU instead of ourselves. please clean up OUR mess for us, and oh, by the way, brace yourselves for our ingratitude and brace yourselves for taking the blame for losing iraq.” horsepuckey! i say, MAKE the people lead. make them acknowledge their compilicity and responsibility for this godawful mess and let the dems wait for that acknowledgement before we do a damn thing.

I think that was Nov. 7, 2006.
Just sayin’..

Don’t worry. The Iraq Study Group also has such level-headed Dems as Leon Panetta, Lee Hamilton, Chuck Robb, Vernon Jordan. We know the DC Democratic elite won’t go down the road to escalation, don’t we? If its one thing we can count on its the wise old men of the Democratic Party.