Not so soon. We can still make the same mistakes all over again: Combining the gradualist approach of Barack Obama (and other Democrats) with Sy Hersh’s New Yorker piece this week raises the ultimate nightmare scenario: Hanging around Iraq, one more Friedman at a time, until the only solution seems to be attacking Iran? Will the Democrats wake up and call a halt to the administration’s plans for Iran before it’s too late?

Not likely.

Guitar–OK- should we work against the bill?

I stand corrected WRT Chris Dodd, hats off to him.

WRT to the others

What seems to be happening is what I was afraid of…Ned would be thrown under the bus by the vast majority of Democrats and y’all would forget, or say “Oh, it’s ok, move on.”

It is NOT ok. The DSCC AND DLC types are almost as much our enemies as the repukes and I, for one, have no intention of letting them forget their treachery, especially Bitch Barbara.

I have a long memory and I hold grudges.

Re Maureen Dowd, there is a silver lining here of a kind. Snark is only good if there is a grain of truth behind it. The problem with Dowd is that she is just a weathervane that blows with any wind. It’s what makes her more irritating than acute. If she is attacking Democrats again, then that is an indication that the Democrats have indeed arrived.

Saw a clip of Jon Stewart lampooning Nancy Pelosi and was briefly disoriented. Then it hit me again, “Wow, we won!”

I think when the goopers line the whole thing up- they may go for Mitt.

He was a governor in a blue state. He’s OK on the “cultural issues”– he presents himself well..

Roodee has way too much baggage- McCain has that growth on the side of his face that’s gettin ta be the size of a football and he’s older than most people’s grandfather, Condi—has proven herself to be a dependable non-performer…

Yeah- they’ll probably suck it up an go for Mitt.

I can hear them now: “Hey, his great-grandfather married WOMEN at least!”
Sure, 6 or 7 at a time, but at least they were women.

montag — and it helped in Japan to have a more or less cohesive society, not one fractured by sectarian/tribal rivalries.

That was not always so, of course. Major factor in consolidating the Japanese national identity was the contrast to foreigners, ‘gaijin’. Still true. Seems we are well-positioned to perform that service in the ME, too?

Sparkles at 96 — Whatever. I’m tired, I’m coming off a week of having some sort of nasty stomach ick, and I’m not in the mood for some intricate game of gotcha. I know how my comment was intended when I wrote it. You don’t want to take me at my word — it’s fine with me.

Christy:

I just want to say: I admire your civil discourse. You’re always reasonable, patient, and accommodating. I really mean that. I think you said before that it takes a lot to piss you off, but once you are: Watch out!

JohnSwifty @ 137

Twisted Martini @
22

John Swifty: Re McCain-what happens when you sell your soul to the devil.

At least Robert Johnson got to play a mean axe; what’d McCain get down at the cross roads?

McCain said he wanted to run the world, but that’s the devil’s turf, so he made him a senator from Arizona, because the devil knows his history….

Oh, too good! I bow at your feet!

JohnSwifty @ 11

It won’t really be fun, will it? He was a guy who could have been all the things he promised to be until he started believing his own press. He could have been a centrist in a time when authoritarianism was so very damaging to the fabric of our political process. He could have been a proponent of truthfulness when we suffered under an administration characterized as the most secretive and deceitful since Nixon. He could have been an American Hero one more time; instead, he’ll be a tear in the page of real progress until he slides to the bottom as a footnote. That’s not really fun, it’s just sad.

He was never a centrist, except in the broken definition that says the center is exactly halfway between the increasingly right-wing Republicans and the mainstream Democrats. He’s been a maverick, meaning he sometimes speaks his mind when he doesn’t exactly agree with his party (you know, that thing that’s called “infighting” and “disarray” when Democrats do it), and the press has this weird inability to distinguish between “maverick” and “moderate,” even though they’re not similar at all.

The fact that he could have been an anti-authoritarian and opposed to massive secrecy and lying as standard government procedure is damning with faint praise.

And seeing someone demonstrate that you can’t get the Republican nomination without nakedly pandering to wingnuts and the religious fringe, and you’ll go down in flames with the general public if you do, is that fun? Yes, absolutely. He’s doing it of his own free will, and it’ll be good for the country.

Well Red,

You make a good case and I’ll not belabour it overly much except to state this: He did, at one point, stand as an example of an American Serviceman who paid a horrific price for his service and came out the other side. That he couldn’t write the final chapter in the story with more truth, class, grit…whatever, well I like a good story and his ends poorly when it could have been so much better and, perhaps, better for the country too. No, there isn’t much to commend the man at this point and there is little enough faint praise to go around anymore; but I cannot think the failure of any potentially good man is a good thing. We might learn from his example–learn what to avoid in terms of hubris, but I’ll persist in feeling pity for him rather than glee that he has sunk to such a place.

Twisted Martini @
22

John Swifty: Re McCain-what happens when you sell your soul to the devil.

At least Robert Johnson got to play a mean axe; what’d McCain get down at the cross roads?

McCain said he wanted to run the world, but that’s the devil’s turf, so he made him a senator from Arizona, because the devil knows his history….