Jordan's King Abdullah: What's up, George?
Bush: Al-Maliki stood me up, again.
JKA: Again? Well, what's up with this puppet regime? Do you really like him that much?
Bush: Yes, honey, I love him, he is fine. He does a lotta nice things for me.
JKA: I know he used to do nice stuff for you, but what has he done for you lately?
(Oooo-hooo-hoooooo, yeah.)
Nasty notes, broken confidences, hurled epithets, dinner dates cancelled, and much hair-flipping and slamming of lockers. Is it a junior high school cafeteria? No. Is it the latest anti-FDL Blogrom* that's brewing out there in Left Blogistan? No, but close!
It's US foreign policy circa 2006.
Bush arrived in Jordan earlier today and was supposed to meet tonight with Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II. High-level summit meetings like these are usually planned to a fare-thee-well, but the White House has just announced that tonight's meeting has been postponed. The ostensible reason? Abdullah and Maliki met with each other before Bush arrived in Amman, and Dan Bartlett said that meeting "negated" the need for the two of them to meet with Bush.
Mmmmm-hm. And that has NOTHING, do you hear me, NOTHING to do with that leaked Stephen Hadley memo.
Just ask White House spokesman Dan Bartlett (via Joan Walsh at Salon):
But pay no attention to the memo, Bartlett says; the need for a "three-way" was obviated by a "two-way" between Abdullah and al-Maliki earlier today. Watch Bartlett try, and fail, to spin reporters in Amman. It's worth quoting at length:
Bartlett: The President is going to have a bilateral and dinner with the King of Jordan. Since the King of Jordan and Prime Minister Maliki had a bilateral themselves, earlier today, everybody believed that negated the purpose for the three of them to meet tonight, together, in a trilateral setting. So the plan, according to — since they had such a good, productive bilateral discussion, was just for the President to deal with bilateral issues and other issues with the King this evening in a dinner setting, and then the meetings set for tomorrow will still take place as scheduled.
Reporter: So the dinner is off, the three-way.
Bartlett: Right.
Reporter: Well, if Maliki — he was never going to the dinner anyway, right? It was just supposed to be a meeting.
Bartlett: There was going to be a trilateral meeting, and then the dinner with the King. Now, since they already had a bilateral themselves, the King of Jordan and the Prime Minister, everybody felt, well, there's no reason for them to do a trilateral meeting beforehand, because matters had been discussed.
As we’ve learned from countless softcore movies on Cinemax, housewives are invariably hot young things always ready to have sex with Think Tank geeks. Today’s totally Not Safe For Work ad on Craigslist is from an alleged 32-year-old housewife who wants to get nasty with “guys who work at the Heritage foundation or other conservative think tanks.” She(?) continues:
I know I will get some email of someone accusing this of being some scam but it really isnt, I just have a real fetish for intellectual conservatives. That said I’m looking to talk dirty online and if its good enough and we click maybe meet in person. Married move to the front of the line. Don’t bother if you dont meet my stipulations I will not answer you.
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fitz!
Cunt!
thank GAWD!
(kisses TRex)
Please. Keep the dial on 11.
All this talk of “three-way” and “two-way”. It sounds like a Skyline Chili order.
I’m surprised that shrubya didn’t have to sleep on the plane in his footie pajamas after dinner got canceled…
Is it my turn to get insulted yet, please?
SusanD @ 5
That’s our boy – putting the Mullah back in MILF.
I sure wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall for the meeting between King Abdullah and al-Maliki. I wonder if they made any deals. I wonder if they dissed Baby Bush somethin’ fierce.
You can be pretty sure it wasn’t “Wise Blood”.
howdy folks. Still kind of on London time, which is why I haven’t popped in to say “I’m home!” I have been SO TIRED about this time every night.
But… I’m home!
kristinejoy @
2
THAT’S THE FUCKING SPIRIT!!
CUNTING CUNTY CUNT CUNT CUNTS!!
HOORAY!!
Patrick 4/4 @
10
It was “A Good Man is Hard to Find”.
Patrick Rex, Hello!
Vilsack to seek 2008 Dem. nomination
Dude, you’re going to have to work a LOT harder than THAT if you wanna offend me.
No “C-word,” no “MF,” no “CS,” c’mon, I come here for obscenity and good hate-ons for the repukes (great post by the way, speaking oif repukes and all).
I can get civil discourse at Huffpost. I want BLOOD!
Bush is being told to “fuck off” at every turn… he must be baffled
Bush:
“WTF, Nouri! Here we shoehorn you into the honcho’s seat, lure you out from under your up-armored-Kevlar-desk in the green zone once a week for a press conference, and you pay me back by showing me (and the world) your big, swarthy, Mesopotamian ass.
Are you seriously worried about that lethal law firm, “Sadr and Badr”? I thought you had them by the short hair, and here it’s looking like it’s the other way around.
What! Am I alpo? (Don’t answer that…) just get back to the green zone. Tell Moqtada not to push his luck.
Just because my poll numbers are lower than whale-shit, and because Colin Powell’s joining the “It really IS a civil war” dogpile, don’t mean shit. It aint over ’til it’s over.
Hey; you need a couple of cute little secretaries? My twins have been getting a lot of bad press lately, and I’m thinking that them in camo might make for some good PR, with those 2900 families.
But, don’t call me; I’ll call you.”
TRex @ 12
Hey there, shitty-shitty cunt cunt, shitty-shitty cunt cunt HOW DO YOU DO?
here’s a thought (and sorry for bringing one up)….
but the whole “three-way was cancelled because Stevie’s note got passed around class” thing was really a cover for “three-way was cancelled because’s al-Maliki’s BFF al-Sadr had a hissy fit, and decided he wasn’t going to the mall with al-M because al-S hates G-B, and al-M knows this….”
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @ 18
hedgehogs
jesus, could you be more of a dick if you tried?
p.lukasiak @ 20
My thoughts exactly.
I think.
twolf1 @ 21
Wolverines!
What I want to know is, can I count al-Maliki’s snub of Georgie as a slap upside the head?
Patrick 4/4 @
10
Nor A Good Man is Hard to Find….
Tanbark @
18
Or maybe the Bush Twins could be Maliki’s secretarys in Burkas??
OldCoastie @
17
With Karl Rove in the background, scratching his ears, mumbling, “another good photo-op fucked again.”
tell me, why is it they send junya to do diplomatic work again? who exactly thought this was a good idea?
The two way superceded the three way – made the three way redundant, see? Its funny math and stuff – sorta like cutting funding for social security makes it stronger.
SusanD @ 25
What I want to know is if this trip–and Cheney’s to Saudi Arabia–were to hit up the Middle Eastern kings for donations to the GWB Lie-bury?
al-Maliki prolly thought Bushie was going to try to give him a neck-rub.
p.lukasiak @
22
Aww, someone is vewwy angwy.
I promise you, I’m not even trying and YOU are displaying an ENORMOUS amount of cultural ignorance by not getting the reference.
Let me know when you catch up.
TRex @ 32
Not the dreaded Merkular motion!
Oh, god, please no fighting on this thread, guys. It was bad enough last hour.
OldCoastie @ 29
GW was only there for the pictures. Other people do the real work.
What’s fascinating though is the intent behind the leak. Was it somebody trying to make Georgie look bad so he’ll stop staying the course? Somebody making al-Maliki look bad so he can be more easily replaced by a “strong man”?
God, I would love to see the distribution list for Hadley’s memo.
gosh.
I had almost exactly enough energy to post my Howdy, Folks! and now I am falling asleep….
It’s six am in london just now. You an understand why I must close my eyes, now. Jet lag is a beast.
Have a lovely evening, firedogs! Give the regulars my best, and give those trolls the back of your hand!
it is what you think. You see, if you read the Hadley “Maliki” memo, it isn’t how it is being characterized in the media (i.e. that the Bush administration now doubts the competence/effectiveness of the Maliki administration)….
Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, al-Sadr has “temporarily” separated himself (and his 30-odd affiliated members of parliament) from the Maliki government — as he threatened to do if Maliki met Bush in Jordan. Without al-Sadr’s 30 members of parliament, the government falls….and lets face it, there is NO FUCKING WAY that Iraq can have a parliamentary election at this point.
So Bushco and Maliki both need a face-saving device to cancel their meeting — and so they leak the Hadley memo, and tell the media that it says all sorts of crap it doesn’t say —- and since nobody at CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, NYT, WP or anyone else is going to bother to READ THE FUCKING MEMO, they get away with it.
***********
is there anything else you need to know what you are thinking about?
Patrick 4/4 @ 36
So would I. From that, we might actually get the names of some of the people working in Office of the Vice-President… which have been a deep dark secret for six years….
some are speculatin’ it’s Shooter who leaked the memo… preemptive payback for having to “retire due to health reasons”?
I still can’t figure out who felt they were gaining the advantage by that little manuever…
I promise you, I’m not even trying and YOU are displaying an ENORMOUS amount of cultural ignorance by not getting the reference.
wow. someone needs an “irony appreciation” injection STAT.
here’s the clue.
You said “cunt”
I said “dick”
get it?
Well, and there is the whole BushCo. “I Am the Cosmos” mentality. They assume that everything pertains to them and hinges on making them look bad or good. All our media coverage is reading everything from that slant, probably without even realizing it.
eyes are slamming shut… g’ night, pups…
The goal of the last thread was to foment commentarian violence ;)
p.lukasiak @ 41
So now would be a bad time to bring up “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” wouldn’t it?
Bush begins delayed talks on Iraq
…President Bush is expected to give public support to Mr Maliki, but privately put pressure on him to take action against Shia militias, analysts say.
The two are also expected to discuss moves to transfer more responsibility to Iraq’s security forces.
p.lukasiak @
41
Sorry man, it’s late. My bad.
I will tell you this – I’ve got a raging clue. It’s pointing to the left. :-D
marry me.
howdy TRex! i haven’t been around much for late nite recently…. but i haven’t forgotten – some day i’ll send you pics from CT. i am soooo behind on my sharing.
looks like you’ve got some people fooled into thinking you’re sixty foot fire breathing dragon…. when in reality you’re just a sweet teddy bear (and a rock-star!).
TRex @ 42
Not sure about what’s going on? (Who ever is with this bunch?) But, I think I heard something this evening that Bush was still on way there when he got word that al-Maliki had cancelled, although there was still some vague BS about a morning or lunch meeting on Thursday (which we ought to be hearing about now, given the time difference).
It sounds to me a lot as if al-Maliki is trying to save face with al-Sadr, and talking only with King Abdullah was a way to justify the trip without actually meeting Bush.
So, Bush really did get stood up… but more likely because of al-Sadr than the vaunted memo. The memo appears to be a way, if anything, to prepare the path for Bush being able to say that al-Maliki is just a pawn of the Iranians….
SusanD @
5
Somehow, I didn’t think of Chili when I read that. I wish I HAD, rather than the visual I got from it. (Can you say: Ewwwwwwwwwww?)
BTW, TRex…don’t you DARE turn it down a notch! Don’t make me use all caps!
Bush, Iraqi PM al-Maliki meet in Jordan
there it is again
Julie @ 51
He’s the capo di tutti capi.
twolf1 @ 52
there it is again
Reads like everyone’s got excuses, and nobody’s got any reasons….
My fondest wish is to see Bush in a “one-way” on the way to the Hague.
SusanD @ 55
Do you think it’ll ever happen? Or is this just going to be another instance where the wealthy and powerful escape punishment because they can buy their way out?
A “working breakfast” with Bush…. I wonder what that entails… watching him spit scrambled eggs all over himself when he hears something he doesn’t like?
TRex @ 56
It’s worked for Henry Kissinger so far….
At this time I would have to say that Bush is the most hated man on the planet. He’s going to have to spend a lot on bodyguards once he’s out of office. The “assigned guys” don’t seem to care too much (the stolen purse, getting beat up, etc.). So I think it’s going to get expensive for King George.
Patrick 4/4 @
53
No, no. The capo lived in Rio Rancho, NM, I personally know that for a fact. Oh heck, I forgot that pesky Witness Protection Program….
SusanD @ 59
Now, that would be ironic, wouldn’t it? He goes broke paying Blackwater for private security….
But I didn’t really answer your question did I? Yeah, he’ll probably get out of it. The Bush Crime Family has a long tradition.
SusanD @ 59
I’m sure there’s a band of Blackwater contractors who would sign on in a jiffy. And I don’t think that family could spend all of their money even if they tried.
No, they probably couldn’t spend all their money. I did read somewhere that they were trying to up the amount of acreage they’re buying in Paraguay. Maybe they’ll all relocate. I can dream can’t I?
You have to wonder if the hammer will ever fall. God is not mocked, right?
Can I still add my 2 pennies from the last thread?
1- Me thinks some green eyed monsters are targeting FDL.
2- Until an hour ago I had never heard of Tom W.
3- Mission accomplished.
I read an opinion piece by a couple of M.D.s that George’s rapid decline in coherency, jaw-twitching etc. all point to someone suffering from presenile dementia. Unfortunately, as with Regan, his decline won’t come fast enough to repair all the damage he’s done to this country, and others.
p.lukasiak @ 10:06 pm (#38)
The only thought that occurs to me is that this is the first explanation that I’ve seen of why this memo was leaked that makes any sense.
ReneND, I can only say that I have observed that navel-gazing in regard to blogs usually results in disaster.
TRex @ 65
sadly, god is mocked every day…. for example, everytime a child dies for lack of clean drinking water. that alone would make it 5000 times per day.
but i don’t think that has to mean there can’t be justice… up to us.
ReneND @ 66
It’s all PR. It simply adds to the greater glory of, well, *me*.
Have you noticed how all of the discussions devolve to “I HATE TREX!! HATE!! HATE!! HAAAAATE HIM!!”?
They can’t stop thinking about me. It must make their lives very hard and sad.
TRex @ 71
Well, gee, TRex, I can’t stop thinking about you either…and only thing that makes me sad is that you’re gay, and therefore unavailable to me!
Trust me. You really wouldn’t want to be my boyfriend, darling. They lead short, difficult lives. We’ll be friends much longer this way, you and I. I promise.
from wash times via TPM:
steve gilliard has been saying this could be a very bad week.
TRex @ 71
It is interesting that I think of myself as a bit of a prude. But, I don’t think I have ever been offended at anything I’ve read here. And you seem like someone I would love to adopt.(I’m old enough to be your mother.)
BTW Trex, My daughter was born in Valdosta. Are you close?
selise @ 74
steve gilliard has been saying this could be a very bad week.
I am praying for the people of Iraq tonight and hope you will all do the same.
TRex @ 73
And with that, I’m going to bed and nurse my sorrow. Night!
No, I’ve never met her, but I’m sure she’s wonderful.
Oh, you mean, am I close to Valdosta? Actually, that’s the other end of the state. I’m about 50-60 miles northeast of Atlanta.
TRex @ 76
amen.
just doesn’t feel like enough… been wishing i did more to try to stop this war.
homophobe.
Mehlmani
This comedy routine can not last – Bush out in 3 -
wow, I missed all the action last thread. a quick scan of the comments landed me here:
Patrick 4/4 @
272
I, too, am crushed.
Ahem.
I would like to call you all’s attention to my comment no. 381 in the last thread.
Oh, hell, I’ll reproduce it here:
nooooooooooo.
punaise @ 83
Let’s face it… some people just resisting having fun whenever possible. :)
punaise @ 83
Hurts, doesn’t it.
This whole “whore” contretemps could have been easily forestalled if only Pach had availed himself of the Judge Roy Bean Defense….
“I understand you have taken exception to my calling you whores. I’m sorry. I apologize. I ask you to note that I did not call you callous-ass strumpets, fornicatresses, or low-born gutter sluts. But I did say “whores.” No escaping that. And for that slip of the tongue, I apologize.”
All our beautiful wickedness…
Oh, what a world…
I think we”re missing a trick here.
What we need to have, some slow news day, is a “what the hell’s the matter with our commenters?” thread.
In the previous thread, TRex gets a thumping from some (Who is The Chronicler?) and on this thread he gets flirting and adoption proposals.
Anyone see/hear the advisor to Rice who was on Countdown with David Schuster tonight? He was one creepy, scary guy and much scarier than anything on late nite. Name started with an S.
Predictions were that Iraq would spiral out of control in months. Isn’t it already?
I still think it’s Althouse.
one of your stalking whores says?
(oops, my bad)
Dana @ 91
Was that Memo Boy?
selise @ 49
Hey selise – would love to see those pics, too. How have you been?
And I agree, if some of those making accusations about TRex had the pleasure of meeting him, I think they’d realize how ridiculous they are being.
Re: Bush. The walls are closing in all around him. It reminds me of the end of Nixon’s term in office when everyone held their breath about how he was going to handle the pressure (wasn’t Al Haig sent in to make sure he didn’t totally lose it)? I think Bush is close to the edge. Everywhere he turns, reality pokes through.
punaise @ 92
Beware skulking bores, murmuring legalese….
NOT poking hard enough.
montag @ 95
“Check out my briefs, amici. Curious?”
No, it wasn’t Memo Boy.
howdy dab from CT! you are on my picture list! many apologies for being soooo sloooow.
i’m off to try to go to sleep again… nite-nite all.
well, no sooner are punaise jr.’s college applications out the door than we have to figure out how to pay for the next eight years of college (punaisette follows in his footsteps). I’ll be in the corner, rummaging through various files, doing the math.
TRex @ 84
Sheesh, I only made it to Comment 100 before giving up on the last thread, looks like things heated up quite a bit. As a boss used to say to me when I complained about things “It’s not compulsory to be here, you know”.
punaise @ 100
Better not ask KKKarl for help on that…. :)
punaise, don’t you mean teh math?
but before I step away, is it safe to assume that a play on the “cut and run” phrase never entered the discussion about the “c” word?
punaise @ 104
Uh, no. The “c” word for the day is contentious. :)
punaise @ 104
Yes, but it was a close shave.
Well, you know, seeing as how all those people are paying me so many thousands of dollars each month to be here, I do sort of feel that I owe them something…
Dana @ 103
you mean teh meth lab in the back yard is not a legitimate way to fund college?
Agree. But amazing his handlers can no longer protect him, even when things are carefully orchestrated.
There are simply too many holes in the dike to hold back the flood.
BTW – I am haunted by Ambassador Wilson’s comment underscoring the danger our troops are in as Iraq blows up and his concern about our ability to extricate them. Someone also commented that it’s more dangerous to retreat than attack. I think we all know that the Iraq disaster is going to get so much worse before it begins to get better.
GWB – worst.president.ever
punaise, you have a meth lab? I have a border collie.
Dana @ 110
She’ll be here all week!!
Hee.
punaise @ 108
I had a math lab in my backyard once. It caused a lot of problems with the neighbors. It was very divisive.
Dana @ 110
our boarder collie fell behind on the rent.
punaise @ 113
Must have been in the doghouse over that.
he tried to sneak out without paying, but (long story short):
collared greens.
My border collie just finds all the neighbors’ wallets, puts ‘em in a circle in the backyard, and there’s your first payment for college. Voila!
Do you always address your lab as “Meth” lab as if you have a lisp?
punaise @ 115
I’m apawled. That sort of behavior, even for a dog, borders on infurnal.
I love this place!
npb!
Dana @ 116
l’il devil, he always makes a meth is top of these
TRex @ 107
Now THAT hits the nail on the head. When you start charging me to come here, then I’ll have a right to make demands about content. Until then, I’ll just lie back and enjoy it.
The DCCC is now airing an ad for Ciro Rodriguez. I am very excited.
Louisiana Girl @ 122
That’s interesting, especially since they sort of left him hung out to dry in the primary.
Are there any new polls out recently?
Go Ciro! I contributed to his campaign.
Oooooh, *DIGBY* got EPU’d on the last thread.
Cujo359 @
68
If this was a “face-saving” move, I’d really hate to see what a “boy, do we look stupid” move looks like.
Dana @ 116
The community center where my theatre group meets had a dog obedience class in our room just prior to us. There was a border collie in it who seemed to feel compelled to herd all the humans in the room. It was quite emphatic at times. A candidate for obedience school if ever there was one.
punaise @ 104
no absconding infibulators on this stretch of beach.
I have never been as entertained by massive displays of pearl clutching by the neighbors in Left Blogtopia as I have tonight. TRex, do NOT yank back on your schtick in the Late Night posts here. Of all the blogs commenting on this latest “OMG Lookit FDL and their ____ist Crap” bullshit I found minor stylistic points that held some merit and a whole lot more jealous invective hurled at the front pagers of FDL.
BTW, since when is this crew of bloggers considered Kewl Kidz in Blogtopia? When did THAT happen? I thought we were the loud punk rock band of the blog world that the straight laced folks crossed the toobz to avoid. It’s like the day I saw an REM video on MTV in the mid 80s – I knew that was a turning point for that band that could NOT lead to good things down the road. I was right too…Michael Stipe has become such a wanker since the early days because of MTV.
Bush himself leaked the Hadley memo to the NYT. He was afraid of meeting al-Maliki; the memo was “strategery” to bring him to heel. It was a frat-boy move. Reeks of W.
wag
TeddySanFran @ 130
Guess that means al-Maliki called Jim Webb for some advice….
We’re the Very Kewl Rotten Kidz in blogtopia. When yer parent’s outta town, we’ll invite everybody to her condo for a drinks party, leave and call the cops on you.
If yer Coultergeist. Malkkkin we’ll just give a swirly to.
what we see here is the unraveling of the puppet president and the pupeteers aka neo-cons are abandoning ship. Let’s just make sure that when Bush falls, we don’t forget who carried the bulk of the evil in this tragedy.
TeddySanFran @ 130
Nah, twas al-Maliki who leaked the memo so that he wouldn’t have to play Ollie to Junya’s Stanley.
This is effing brilliant.
Alright, good night.
Be good.
Sweet dreams, Trex (and Ned TFK too)
yikes. the silent majority speaks out. is it really that bad?
punaise @ 138
Pun cascades are an essential part of the FDL experience.
I consider them douchebag repellent. Like a citronella candle for your comment thread.
or garlic worn round the neck
TRex @ 125
He’s also got a good post up about Mark Danner’s article on Bush and Iraq.
c’est la Digby, n’est-ce pas?
punaise @ 140
Could be worse… they could come in and make better ones than we do. :)
montag @ 143
that would be a missed stake in the heart of a vamp hour
From that Digby piece:
I smell a theme for ‘08.
Did anybody else just listen to Bush and al-Malaki give press conference. Bush seemed to be yelling…
punaise @ 138
Technorati is currently tracking over 50 million blogs. There are thousands that offer late night political discourse. I’m not aware of any other site that regularly risks the wrath of the burgeoning ziggurat. Zig On!
Zig On!
right. boffo. gotcha: with zignity, of course
Bush, al-Maliki agree not to divide Iraq
Oh God, what a relief to have that settled!
punaise @ 144
Nah, sfer uh tuh do. You’re right. Leave the night for the undead and they’ll stake over.
punaise @
138
not.going.back.there.
Curious in Central Texas @ 146
Again? The whole world’s getting hard of hearing….
TSF: not.going.back.there.
your work is done…I still have to decide whether to read through that thread.
prostratedragon @ 149
Italics mine… ok. Bush let a 3rd grader quote him… nevermind.
Montag, yes. I’ve read here others’ impression that Bush seemed to be yelling from the podium, but I had never experienced or seen it. It was really quite upsetting to watch. He seemed so out of control trying to display ultimate control. We’re staying in Iraq… these people voted for freedom, liberty and have one of the most up-to-date Constitutions in the Middle East…. and then there is the lapse where he kind of sighs, laughs…
newtonusr @ 154
Undershow. That’s a necessity for lowering the bar, isn’t it?
Welcome to Limboland….
montag @ 156
Talk about soft bigotry…
Curious in Central Texas @ 155
Certainly doesn’t lend itself to being appraised as quiet dignity and strength in the face of adversity, does it?
newtonusr @ 157
Now, if we were talking about George Allen, I was all prepared… “the soft bigotry of chew expectorations.”
Who else sees 3 or more things wrong here?
Seems silly at this point to pick on Chimpy over grammer, but this is something else – I yearn for talking points! They may have made only a little more sense than the above, but at least I imagined that an adult had a hand in them.
newtonusr @ 160
Well, certainly, “undershow,” as a Freudian slip, invalidates the assertion that he’s a “realist” in that, if it were a Freudian slip, it means he’s trying to downplay the difficulties, and, by inference, his role in and responsibility for them.
Then, of course, there’s the simple grammatical misstatement, which we’ve all come to expect. Then, there’s the assertion that he does know those difficulties in Iraq, when he very likely doesn’t, because the full realization of what’s going on there would be shattering to his ego.
It’s also possible that “realist” may have been inserted in there for him to give the inside-the-Beltway pundits something to chew on–that he’s on board with the “realists” in Poppy Bush’s faction, giving the impression that he’s going to take their advice on troop withdrawal, something that he’s not at all likely to do.
montag @ 161
I’ve always insisted that Chimpy is smarter than he lets on. Politically, he drove the folksy RV right where he needed it to be to come close in 2000, and was within striking distance in ‘04.
Obviously that’s not the same as being engaged, intellectually curious, etc.
But how the fuck could he not get what is going on now?
To admit to being wrong on anything (except possibly a little hubris) would fracture the crafted image of resolute. Giving up on Harriet Myers and firing Rummy were political necessities and were couched to appear as if they were doing a service to the Nation.
Shattered ego aside, Bush must know exactly what’s happening as a result of his administrations decisions, but the rationale for staying in power precludes him from assuming any responsibility for the results – they are catastrophic, and actionable.
There’s not keeping up with the papers (which he probably doesn’t), and then there’s complete isolation. Like in the West Wing, how could he not know the dogs don’t like the dog food? He’s participating in the same spin cycle as everyone else in ChimpCo.
newtonusr @ 162
The link I mentioned above (and relinked here) from digby has an inkling of why he might not. A snippet:
Since I can’t imagine what days spent in that chair must be like, I must admit the possibility that he is literally clueless; and when Digby weighs in, well, what can one say?
But does he not know he got stood-up by Maliki? Does he not know the numbers of dead, injured, ruined? Does he not know what happened @ the ballot box a couple of weeks ago, and why? Those must be some powerful drugs.
And if it’s true that he’s clueless, imagine the Herculean effort to keep him in the box for this long…
“I will do my best to dial it back a notch from now on.”
Yeah. Right.
May they know themselves biblically if they can’t take a joke.
newtonusr @ 164
Well, they’ve probably had a lot of help from Bush himself in that effort. He’s likely very cooperative, as anything challenging his world view would be met with his displeasure.
Further up in that piece, digby quotes extensively from Mark Danner’s NY Review of Books article on just this isolation and deviation from the standardized process of vetting information and using the entirety of the bureaucracy to aid Bush and his top people in decision-making. Danner suggests that the neo-cons perceived this process to be an interference with what they intended to do, so they simply bypassed it.
When things went wrong, there were no fallback plans because they’d seen no need for them–and they’d grown accustomed to the way they desired things to work (there’s a suggestion, too, that Bush himself, making one of his decisions from the “gut,” may have himself screwed their plans by nixing Chalabi for grand potentate at the last minute). Danner describes Bush as being controlled by a small coterie in his Cabinet and in Cheney’s office. Nothing they did not want to get past them to Bush did.
So, in that sense, Bush’s view of things may be completely delusional, but, to him, it’s perfectly logical because he’s never seen (or, as importantly, wanted to see) anything to contradict that view. It’s a thoroughly scary thought that the man has willingly allowed himself to be manipulated for six years, and that he is completely delusional, but it would be folly to dismiss that possibility, given not only the power normally vested in him, but the additional powers he’s seized and the influence Cheney has over him, as well.
up at my place
PRESIDENT’S OWN REPORT; GET OUT IF IRAQ AS SOON AS POSSILBEyou’re gonna read something to that effect on the from page of the new york times, possibly sometime today, maybe tomorrow, it’ll read;
that’s right too, the baker group is going to tell the president “get the frig out”…they will try to save face for him a little bit and “not recomend a definate timetable”, but they WILL say something like ‘as soon as possilble”so NOBODY will EVER claim this is a “democratic initiative”, this is a republican initiated pull out, endorsed by the republicans and forced through by the republicans….
Morning, all… running late here…
Today’s NYT columnists, from behind the firewall:
http://select.nytimes.com/2006…..amp;emc=th
David Brooks, “Waiting to be Wooed.”
http://select.nytimes.com/2006…..amp;emc=th
Bob Herbert, “Badges, Guns and Another Unarmed Victim.”
Before he went to “undershow”ing in that AP article about the Maliki meeting, Brush confirmed the worst fears of some of us:
No feedback controller here at all, or what?
Marion in Savannah @ 168
thank you marion, love ya
perris @ 170
oops, not getting through this time marion
morning….
clark fans and others – at 8am, clark will be on c-span1 to talk about iraq.
Totally OT, but don’t you wish there woulda been a videoclip of that Webb/Bush moment on YouTube? We need a political version of TMZ.COM or whatever that Harvey Levin thing is for Hollywood.
Fineman talking about that and other matters–Iraq–this morning on Imus. Fineman’s take: we’re totally “scewed”–oh, can we still say that?????????????
Ladies, Pach, TRex…never never lose the spirit! We love you.
Back to Fineman–he noted that now the old enemies–subgroups within Shiite and Sunni’s–have united. The disastrous BushCo War has coalesced factional groups of those who hate us into allies.
Heckuva job, Bushie.
Worst. President. Ever.
Smallest, too.
Prairie-Good Morning.
I’m never up this early. Things O.K. at your place?
Hiya Rene–we must lunch soon!
Hey all, yesterday I propped Amy Robach on MSNBC. Today, I’m talkin’ up Charlie Gibson. I didn’t expect to like his tenure at ABC News, but I’m a regular and I’d encourage you to give his coverage a try.
Yikes! Imus commenting if Bush resigns we get Chee-knee, and if Chee…..
He may not like it, but works for moi!
Mornin’.
I’m a little sad because my guy Kissell conceded in NC-08 to the incumbent Republican. They were only a couple hundred votes apart but the recount, done in 3% of random districts, wasn’t as helpful as they needed. :(
Sigh. But he did announce he’s running in ‘08. So maybe after some coffee I’ll try to get excited about that.
Sigh.
Mornin’ all!
twolf1 @ 177
That’s the kind of excitement I’m talking about. Right on up to the exclamation point.
Hey twolf what’s happening.
so sorry egregious – you’ve worked so hard for your candidates and other’s candidates too. here’s hoping for ‘08…
how you liking webb? isn’t he your new senator-to-be?
Today is our semiannual fundraising mailing for my work overseas. This one is a little small, only 2100 letters. They are hand-folded and stuffed and stamped and addressed by willing
slave laborvolunteers. I think I owe each of them some homemade cookies.selise @ 179
Webb! Webb! Webb!
Senator-elect Webb! MINE. Ok I’ll share :)
Mornin’
Pups
T Rex, darlin’ you never have to dial it back for me. I love spewing coffee all over the laptop!
The laptop, however, may not be as big a fan as I am.
lhp,
How’s little prop and the puppy?
egregious @ 181
thought a mention of webb might cheer you up a bit!
You guys might find this funny after all my exhortations to give to actBlue, egrBlue, fdl, and Marcy’s book, but I actually hate fundraising. But sometimes we need resources to accomplish important work.
egregious @ 176
I wasn’t following this, so pardon my ignorance. When you say 3% recount,
was that the 3% audit for DRE’s? Or does you state have a two step recount process?
Normally a recount is just that, a recount–of all votes. Which is different than the 3% automatic audit that kicks in if a rece falls within certain statistical parameters.
In NYS we are trying to have an automtic 3% audit of every race with an automatic recount if the audit reveals that the tally ran above a certain margin of error
egregious @ 178
Not much, tired and on my way out the door for an exciting half day of photographing furniture. How about you?
twolf–
Trying to catch up on all the things that didn’t get done in the last 2 months. I was busy for some reason.
Am preparing to visit my 80 year old aunt who is losing her physical and mental stability at a fairly alarming rate. She is now in a nursing home near 2 of her children, so am not concerned about her care, just about losing her. I’ll fly out over the weekend and take her to a concert which I hope she will enjoy.
egregious @ 181
lhp–maybe I’m not using the word recount correctly. In NC-08 first all the ballots were put thru the optical screeners a second time, except for the one county that’s electronic. That narrowed the results even further.
This week they went to the next step which is 3% of districts, randomly chosen, to do a hand examination for people that didn’t fill in the bubble completely, but had a definite choice. If that would statistically change the election results, the next step would be a complete hand examination. They never got to the last step because the 3% part didn’t pan out.
I do not live in NC and am not an election expert. ymmv
Ackkk — please delete my 189. Didn’t mean my comment to appear inside the quote.
The question stands: If my Senator lives in Virgiania while he’s working in DC, may I claim Webb by proxy? Or whatever? Love the guy.
Semper fi.
egregious @ 183
Little prop broke her big toe and got an infection and for about a month we all held our breath b/c the doctors were talking about bone infection and possible amputation. Toe, foot or even a part of the lower leg.
She took massive amounts of anti- biotics and will be in a rocker boot till Feb, but as of the last visit they think they have eradicated the infection. She goes back to the doctor this afternoon for another progress check.
Other than thatshe is great. Though only in the 7th grade she has been invited to take the SAt’s this Jan. with an eye toward attending some college course this summer. She was always an indifferent student, but performed off the charts on her standardized tests this year (I guess that makes her one of the few beneficiaries of “no child left behind” testing).
The beauty o f this, is that for the first time she thinks of herself as smart. Everyone I know (inlcuding me) has been telling her this for years, but she though we were just being nice. Suddenly, she has an interest in her grades. Yippee.
She starts an SAt prep course this Sat. It’s in Manhattan, so I think I will take her on some excursions in the afternoons after the course finishes for the day.
Baby Mittens is growing into one of the prettiest labs I have eve seen. Such a face!
She is freakishly smart, can open doggie gates, refigerators and has figured out how cookie tins work, but lacks the dexterity to open them. She is consequently VERY destructive and a menace to all household possessions.
The puppy is also a gifted commedian and just when you want to kill her for breaking into you bedroom and eating you brand new, never been worn, shoes youcouldn’t afford but they were on sale–she does some little comedy act and leaves you laughing so hard.
I don’t know if she has figured out yet that she is a dog not a people. She demands and requires far more attention than 3 people could ever give her, even if they had nothing else to do. She ought to be on TV or in the movies so her antics would be a positive thing rathter than a menace to hearth and home.
Did I mention the puppy is a pyromaniac?
Prairie–
Sure. Everybody can claim Webb. I think people will find him quite inspiring. He is fearless and cannot be undermined when he believes he is right.
A man of principle in Washington! How novel [little joke about his writing novels].
morning, coffee’s ready and it’s strong…
a pyromaniac puppy?? am I still sleeping?
I’m thinking the ISG’s recommendations are going to out of date before they even come out…
lhp–How frightening about your daughter’s toe. Glad to hear it worked out ok, and you can always color over the gray hair.
Good work getting her to understand she is smart. Younger egrDaughter didn’t get that for a long time because others in the family are up there and she went to a gifted/talented school. One little glimpse when she breezed thru the first week of computer programming in about a day and wondered why everyone else was struggling. Then in [my old] college she got way better grades than I did. The little light started to go on. Gee, maybe I’m smarter than…mom??? It’s been fun to watch.
And I’m sure she will enjoy and long remember your excursions after her prep sessions. Have a great time.
Puppies and shoes. Oh my goodness that takes me back to my brittany spaniel puppy. Handmade rugs and irreplaceable library books too. But she was so cute. I still miss her and contribute to brittany rescue. Can’t get another one because of allergies. Great to hear from you!
OldCoastie @ 194
[holds out mug, whimpering]
New thread upstairs gang
The most ridiculous part of the whole exercise is the premise that Maliki “lacks a sense of urgency” to reach a political settlement and what is needed is to “light a fire” under his ass by threatening to pull out the troops.
This is patent nonsense. It isnt a lack of will or a lack of urgency that is the problem. It is that there is no way to get to a political settlement when none of the parties want one and there is no credible threat of force to make them do it. You could get the most hard-ass politician in the world in that job and it would still be impossible.
Threatening to pull our troops out or actually doing it (which I hope they do ASAP) wont cause Maliki to broker a settlement among the dozens of splintering factions – It will drive him further into the arms of whichever one he thinks he is safest with – and at the moment this seems to be Moqtada al Sadr. And what will be the difference from our point of view?
- The civil war will continue – but it will go on anyway whether or not we stay
- The Iranians will have a lot of power since they back Sadr – but they already do anyway
- All hell will break loose – but that is already happening
- Our troops will be out of the way and THAT is the one thing we have to power to change
Apart from this, we have no control over anything that happens inside Iraq. All that remains for us is to choose whether or not to have our soldiers in the middle and to do our best to influence what the various regional neighbors do about the descent into chaos that is now well under way.
There’s no confirmation at this point whether or not King (aka “Sheikhy Bear”) Abdullah was really filmed drunkenly calling al-Maliki “oilcrotch” outside an Amman nightclub while Bush looked on and cackled like a hyaena the whole time.
The usual behavior for the typical fratboy. But heads of state? Uh-huh. I remember reading that the king went to Deerfield, all boys prep school. Perhaps it’s good in a sober moment, the king of Jordan should distance himself from his laughing hyena like fratboy fellow head of state.
unfair to fratboys, in its entirety. post & thread alike.
That ad was definitely placed by Patriotboy, looking for some more good embarassing material. You go boy P-boy!