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Lord McCain offers his thoughts on "surging" in the WaPo:
The worst of all worlds would be a small, short surge of U.S. forces. We have tried small surges, and they have been ineffective because our commanders lacked the forces necessary to hold territory after it was cleared. Violence, which fell dramatically while U.S. forces were present, spiked as soon as they were gone. Any new surge needs to provide enough American troops to hold the areas on their own.
A short surge would have all the drawbacks associated with greater deployments without giving our troops the time to be effective. Announcing that we are surging for three or six months -- or any other timeline -- would signal to the insurgents and militias that they can wait us out, and it would indicate to the Iraqi public that the enforcement of their government's authority will be fleeting. This would strengthen, not weaken, the power of the militias.
Not to quibble, but a sustained "surge" with no end in sight such as McCain is arguing for would be better characterized as an escalation. You know, so him'n'Joe -- the Surge Sisters -- won't look like they lost or anything.
Wonder how many comments McCain will get before they shut them off like they did for Joe, after 37 pages? I say McCain's a thin skinned bastard, he'll start whining after one. And Brady'll fold.
(graphic by Millineryman)
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Me!
I am seriously thinking McCain is not reality based. Seriously.
I don’t think the carpet matches the drapes on those two models, there
;>)
Oh darkblack you are bad.
And hat tip Teddy for the comment note.
Gore Leaves Door Ajar for 2008
By Chris Cillizza And Shailagh Murray
Sunday, January 7, 2007; Page A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02379.html
FITZ!!! NOW!!! We need you.
McCain and Lieberman. The two biggest ass kissers I think I have ever had the displeasure of noticing.
Well, I was going to mention that ‘Rocket Tits’ Lieberman looks particularily fetching (As in fetch the stick), but since I’m bad, I won’t.
;>)
Millineryman! That picture is scarier than Robert Blake’s face on Patricia Arquette’s body in Lost Highway.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 2
Who knows? When Karl Rove was spreading those rumors about McCain being a “little nuts” maybe he actually had the facts.
Hey, no one wants to end the war in Iraq more than Joe Lieberman.
No one.
So that he can gear up for war in Iran.
-GSD
I read somewhere earlier today that the only person McCain is worried about in his suck-up quest for the Republican nomination is Newtie. Imagine. Newt for VP!
The reported strategery will have Maliki and the Iraqi military laying waste to the Sunnis and the US taking on the Shiite death squads.
What could go wrong with such a plan?
-GSD
Jane is a true inspiration for me. I read her posts and sometimes these images just pop into my head. She also inspires me into action, and this my way of giving something back. And let’s face, any opportunity to mock Joe and his Lord is a welcome one.
And, as a Vietnam vet, McCain should know that. Since he evidently doesn’t…
Millineryman @ 14
I’m not a photoshop wizard, but the pic above calls to mind the “sisters” number from White Christmas. I can see Joe and John in it instead of Crosby and Kaye. (Actually it would be better with St. McCain and the last honest man in the blue dresses of the ladies, feathers and all.)
Oklahoma kiddo @
5
This is clearly Al Gore’s moment in history. It’s a chance to put the Neoconartist dream to rest once and for all.
All I would ask from such a Presidency is that Gore choose Howard Dean as his Vice President.
Eight years of Gore/Dean? Imagine the possibilities.
Coming Soon:
“The Awakening”
teocawki
Hmmm. Still waiting for the actual speech. I don’t think they’re going to be able to pull this off, and I’m wondering how they’re to try to do it.
Well, it’s only on Page 1 for comments, but there is an uncanny resemblance to the response Holy Joe got.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 12
Wow. He IS delusional.
I somehow though things would get less crazy after the election when there were more grown ups on their way to Washington. Nope.
Then I thought it would get less crazy in January, when they were sworn in.
Jane, your post and its illustration make it clear things are just not going to get sane until the lies and lunacy are seen as exactly that. Worthless ravings. Demented longings. Not patriotism or even good sense.
These folks just won’t stop until we turn off the power.
Ugh.
Has any of the “liberal” MSM asked these dweebs where they plan on getting these troops? It would seem an obvious enough question…
Oklahoma kiddo @ 2
Tis true! All the better to attract those of the non-reality-based Repug party.
Wingnuts go better with Kook-Aid!
Surge-a-fret City:
RevDeb @
16
Where have you gone, Mister Kenneth Starr, a nation turns its jaundiced eye to you
;>)
!!!!!AGHHHH!!!!!!!!!
THAT PICTURE!
IT
BUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS!
Yo McCain,
Since it’s bowl season and all, What’s the over/under on the number of American POWs in your SURGE?
And how many of them actually die versus getting tortured and then return to the USA to foment the same policies that lead to the same statistics 40 years from now?
I see the fearmongering has started up again.. just in time for the debates soon to come in Congress… today’s Miami port “nuclear” scare.. which got live coverage all day long, turned out to be a Spanish-speaking truck driver with limited English language skills (such disclosure of Homeland Sec’s incompetence exposed only after primetime)…
Any surge that does not cripple the American military is clearly an inadequate waste of time. Look at all those lazy troops sitting on their asses back home!
Millineryman @
14
Let us all now caricature these cartoons to deflate their egos, deride their intellect, expose their shortcomings, humiliate their supporters, jeer at their claims, lampoon their plans, laugh at them, mock them, needle them, rail at their arrangements, razz their speeches, roast their asses, scoff at their programs, scorn their proffers, sneer at their programs, taunt their allies, and twit their, ah, twits.
Nightmare tonight from that pic. To whom do I send the bill for my therapy?
Sonoma Rus @ 31
Send it to McCain and Lieberman. They seem to think they have unlimited resources to throw down a hole, so maybe they can expand social services while they’re at it.
the Surge Sisters are being coy at the Suck (H)up tonight
Eli @ 29
And the dead and wounded, that received notices about re-upping.
egregious @ 34
Slackers.
From digby, on Friday:
Eli @ 29
“Since we already toppled one government in Iraq, how come we’re not toppling another?
It only took a couple of weeks the first time, so it should be even quicker now that we’ve had practice.
Since the Democrats have taken over the US Congress, we Repugs need another home.
Ah think ah should git me some property in that there Green Kool-Aid Zone.”
Says The Surge Sisters in declaring for the Preznitcy/Vice Preznitcy of the new United (or not) States of Iraq.
Apart from their support for a Squeeze, what also stands out is more adherence to and distancing from any responsible talk that necessarily involves timelines
“Announcing that we are surging for three or six months — or any other timeline — would signal to the insurgents and militias that they can wait us out, and it would indicate to the Iraqi public that the enforcement of their government’s authority will be fleeting.”
They can, have been, and will continue to wait us out longer than we will ever endure. There has been no capitulation, no surrender, and no reclamation of hearts and minds.
McCain in ‘08? stick a fork in him.
MM,
Found it, mail on the way.
Muzzy @ 38
Of course they’re going to wait us out no matter how long we’re there - they fucking LIVE THERE.
I am pretty sure the Iraqi insurgents would rather fight us over there than over here.
Just guessing.
-GSD
Man, what’s happened to this blog…A couple of old right-wing teabaggers cavorting in poodle skirts and everybody runs screaming to their shrink…
Doesn’t anyone remember laughter?
;>)
We are buying the stairway to Joes’ room.
-GSD
Eli @ 35
Hey Eli.
These slackers should get themselves down to the recruitment center and pledge their corpses and sacred honored crippled selves to go another round against…whom exactly is the enemy now? I forget.
Eastasia! Yes. Death to the vile Enemy Of The People Eastasia. We have always been at war against Eastasia. Or somebody. As long as they provide an opportunity for us to maintain power, restrict civil liberties, and make money.
Ooops, did we say that out loud?
I’ve been bothered by that reference on the previous thread about our signing a contract for 30 years of Iraqi oil. I know there is an old saying, “to the victor goes the spoils,” but since when do the losers get to confiscate the victim’s resources. And who did we sign a contract with, and who’s to say if they’ll still be in power if the Iraqis ever finish their civil war. This is just truly ugly and morally reprehensible on many levels.
egregious @ 44
Middle Eastasia, actually.
My comment left over at the WaPoo:
A sustained “surge” is, in actuality, called an escalation. I would have thought Sen. McCain would know the difference, what with him being a military man and all.
There is no distinction between this “surge” and previous temporary increases in troop levels. The result has always been the same - when the troops leave, the violence increases. I would have thought Sen. McCain would know that doing the same thing over and over again with the expectation of different results is not a strategy for success in battle, what with him being a military man and all.
To be honest, I expected a lot more than Sen. McCain has delivered. The only difference I see between his op-ed and that of Geo. W. Bush’s in the Wall Street Journal is the name on the byline.
Frankly the two of them remind me of the two sisters in the Bette Davis & Jane Crawford movie Whose Afraid of Baby Jane (or do I have the people and title mixed up)? One of them presents the other with a dead parokeet (or canary) for breakfast (or lunch). And speaking of killing innocents……..the recent splurge to surge.
darkblack @
8
are those pershings or patriots ?
Blub @ 28
And random suspicious packages. And random closures of public whatever. Department of Homeland Insecurity. What, you thot they were working to REDUCE insecurity? When there is money to be made?
Millineryman @
14
Nice pair, MM.
Jay @
10
maybe he can play col. bat guano in the remake of “Dr. Strangelove” ?
GSD @ 43
They are ladies, I’m told
But their skin smells of mold
and their larynxes
are suspiciously forward
fahrender @ 49
Certainly not Atlas…Juggs.
;>)
Suzanne @ 47
And one was signed in crayon.
Michael Gordon, military reporter for the New York Times, was on Meet the Press today as part of the panel discussion. Russert gave him every opportunity to report on the military opposition to the escalation but all Gordon would do is talk about people who support the escalation. Given everything we know about the military opposition to that strategy it struck me as odd.
Then I remembered that Michael Gordon and Judith Miller were the crack reporting team that helped sell the country the neocon lie that Iraq had WMD that they would use against us.
People like McCain, Lieberman and Gordon refuse to learn the lessons that the real world is trying to teach them. They are hogtied by their ideology.
punaise @
33
Yes! Now you can SURGE and SUCK!
Ok pups, under the prev explained plan for me to reduce my stress to a sustainable level, time to rest/sleep/perchance to dream of a democratic [small d] victory.
Still feeling v guilty about not digging into analysis of upcoming war/Iran. We will stand down when the
Iraqisfellow bloggers stand up. Or something. Guilty conscience…pushing back…need me to be there even IF there is wwiii…sigh…EvilDrPuma @
15
knowing something and being willing to be forthright about it is not something politicians are very good at.
Patrick Kennedy @ 55
That shocked me too - And Russert never came back and said, but a majority of the troops there now are opposed to the Administration’s policies there. Gordon and Miller - like Perle, Crystal, Adelman, etc. = high on Neocon coolaid.
egregious @ 57
G’nite egregious… Hope to have some very cool news for you this week. Get some rest. :) I’ve got the watch and will keep fighting for the “small d” victory tonight.
Nate, if you say so. Then I can rest. Thx
Suzanne @ 47
and they were both drafted by Marshall Wittman.
Late Night’s upstairs.
Which one is Laverne and which one is Shirley?
Surge = Love
[Mod Note; let’s be careful about the blog whoring, OK?]
subway @ #17
Gore & Dean
i’ll back that ticket.
egregious @ 44
Hey, Egregious, I gotta say, that’s one of the sanest things I’ve heard all day!
I like “Lord McCain” better for myself, but my $0.02: “St. McCain” is strategically better for undermining him in ‘08.
Otherwise reasonable people who might vote irrationally for McCain really do think of him as saintlike. To the extent that the blogosphere can affect the language in the wider world, to see it said ironically might jolt them enough to wander their way back to their senses.
egregious @ 57
‘Grege, take some time off. Do the relaxation exercise, “Rest and relax. Rest and relax. Right now there is nothing that you need to do.”
What you said abt the upcoming war, it would be much safer as as a wii war, but Joe and Hill would object.
SeriousKidding @ 65
Blog-whoring? God forbid. I honestly didn’t realize it was a sin. It won’t happen again.
gbg
At this point in the Iraq drama, I think that Bushite & Neo Co. are trying to line up a three bank billiard shot into Iran.
I truly think they have to dig us into Iraq deeper very quickly, even if it results in failure , or even a rout.
(A rout of US forces in Bagdad or Anwar will of course be due to Iran’s devious scheming)
The reasons are several fold, but the first is that the Saudis don’t want us on their turf anymore and there is no plan B to that other than ‘permanent bases in Iraq. If we leave Iraq, we have no substantial land presence in the Middle East, a disaster for the NeoCons.
Second, if Bushite screws up the situation on the ground in Iraq really royally until 2008, it becomes an election year football, as in:
no decision will be made either way to stay or not.
This buys time for rationalizing the attack on Iran with the US public.
A “Gulf of Tonkin” situation needs to be setup for a manufactured provocation by Iran against “US interests” to which “The Decider” can respond, with violence.
IMHO, controling oil in the Middle East was never a factor of ‘controling’ Iraq’s oil, it was of a factor of ‘controling’ Iran’s oil.
Iran has always been the prize but the NeoCon’s shot their “credibility wad” on Saddam’s WMD hoax.
Even thought the case for Iran’s WMD is more credible now, the public would not believe Bush Baby now if he said the Sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning, it’s that bad.
Hence more time is needed to conjure up an attack plan on Iran.
Or should I say ‘move up’ the plan they have had all along.
The NeoCons never thought they would lose the 2006 election so badly.
Being caught flatfooted and unprepared is their MO, it’s a lifestyle Baby.
Richmond @ 48
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
“Tagline: Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?”
Deja vu all over again. Talk of a SURGE and its impact on Iraq (literally) is dominating our Conglomerate Media. Don’t seem to hear much of this viewpoint:
http://feingold.senate.gov/~fe.....070105.htm
Let’s go Pelosi, Tester, McCaskill, et al. This is your chance to save thousands of lives, and NOT a time for triangulating. Don’t listen to Hillary, please! We helped get you there, now please make us proud. America and the Constitution need you immediately. We know you can do it.
fahrender @ 65
Me, too!!!
GSD @
13
Only this: It would fail to maximize the fucked-upness of the, um, enterprise. What’s needed to get all the way to the failure possibility boundary, is to add this (by way of Steve’s News Blog):
HotFlash @
56
good one.
McCain is just running for president over the dead and wounded bodies of American Troops. he knows that there aren’t enough Army troops or Marines available to provide for the strategy that he “envisions”. he knows he won’t have to be responsible for his words because his requirements can not be realized.
what we ought to be focussing on here is the context.
what has been “leaked” about fuckwad’s “surge plan” is preposterous on it’s face. a billion dollars for “jobs” and supplies to give the jobs purpose? talk about money down a rat hole. kurdish troops in bagdad? both the sunnis and the shia will welcome them with open arms. if they show up. iraqi brigades will fall apart as soon as they’re deployed, if they muster enough bodies to be deployed.
gilliard is so right about this.
“Success is Still Possible”
is that before or after the monkeys come flying out of my ass?
fahrender @ 66
I wouldn’t mind Gore-Clark myself. And then President Gore can ask Howard to continue servings as head of the DNC for another 4 years. Then in 2012 after 4 years of President Gore with a filibuster proof Democratic majority in both the House and Senate… Maybe, just maybe, we can undo a lot of the terror Dubya’s brought down on this planet.
Note to latecomers: As of 1:40 a.m. EST, the WaPo was still accepting comments on Lord McCain’s “Send More Troops” op-ed piece:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01810.html
“Surge Sisters?” Look, real human lives are at stake, and we owe it to those people not to disguise the truth with sugary euphemisms.
They should be called “The Escalation Eunuchs.”
Paul Krugman thinks they’re nuts:
http://select.nytimes.com/2007.....an.html?hp
Quagmire of the Vanities
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The only real question about the planned “surge” in Iraq — which is better described as a Vietnam-style escalation — is whether its proponents are cynical or delusional.
Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thinks they’re cynical. He recently told The Washington Post that administration officials are simply running out the clock, so that the next president will be “the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof.”
Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for his research on irrationality in decision-making, thinks they’re delusional. Mr. Kahneman and Jonathan Renshon recently argued in Foreign Policy magazine that the administration’s unwillingness to face reality in Iraq reflects a basic human aversion to cutting one’s losses — the same instinct that makes gamblers stay at the table, hoping to break even.
Of course, such gambling is easier when the lives at stake are those of other people’s children.
Well, we don’t have to settle the question. Either way, what’s clear is the enormous price our nation is paying for President Bush’s character flaws.
It’s 7:37 a.m. EST and there are already three pages of comments, all of them negative.