From the State Department that brought you the fantastic stylings of the Karen Hughes big foot her way around the Middle East diplomacy extravaganza, and the ever-popular schlocky propaganda film at the airport to while away your strip search hours, comes this brilliant scheme funded with your tax dollars. Concern trolls are us:
“Because blogging tends to be a very informal, chatty way of working,” MacInnes said, “it is actually very dangerous to blog.” So State has a senior experienced officer, who served in Iraq, acting as supervisor and discussing each posting before it goes up. “We do not make policy,” MacInnes added.
The State Department team’s approach is to join a blog’s conversation, often when it turns to the motivation for U.S. policy toward Iraq, and when others are claiming that the U.S. occupation is meant to help Israel or to secure oil. “Our job is to address that motivation issue and show them that that’s not the motivation,” MacInnes said.
“You can’t just say, ‘Well, here’s our policy,’ and drop it into the blog. You have to have what I call a bridge,” MacInnes said. He then described using a sporting or current event or even poetry that would “allow one to get to be in a conversational mode with people.”…
But is there sufficient cheetos and mello yello?
Our state department has deployed a concern troll strategery. Subtle. Guess they are taking a page from the GOP campaign manual, and the Rummy “Information Operations Roadmap” to domestic propaganda bonanza, down a whole new road to gooberville. I’m sure it will be a smashing success at tackling this:
I called Zogby International today and got their most recent data (from research conducted in late-2006) on Middle Eastern opinion towards the United States. In Jordan, favorable opinion of the U.S. plunged from 33 percent in 2005, when Hughes took over, to 5 percent; in Morocco from 34 percent to six percent; and in Lebanon from 32 percent to 27 percent. Favorable opinion on Hughes’s watch barely changed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia–standing at an abysmal 13 percent in the former and 11 percent in the latter–and climbed notably only in the United Arab Emirates (from 28 percent to 35 percent). (It should be noted that these numbers represent views of the American government. Middle Easterners are generally not as negative about the American people.)
This is magical thinking. Forget the “eat fewer calories and exercise more” mantra, if only you can find the magic pill that will melt the weight off for you. Yep, I’m sure a few well-placed concern troll comments on a teenage message board in Qatar will make all the difference in the world while we don’t change the underlying American policy problems one whit.
Presto, change-o…
PS — Speaking of rats and sinking ships, any bets on whether the departing of Franny Townsend has to do with (a) bruised ego from her PR campaign to be AG falling flat; (b) a new promised gig with the Rudy Show; (c) an about-to-be-publicly-disclosed new pile of crapola policy problem or (d) some combination of the above?
(Photo via Walker Cleaveland.)
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Hi Christy
Morning katymine. How are you feeling?
Don’t tease us like that. What do you know?
Great…. going back to work next week. Going out for my walk now that I read the post…
These guys are really desperate aren’t they?
BTW just finished reading “The summer of my Greek Taverna” …. it was out of print and thankfully found a copy at a used book store.
Going to London and Paris the first two weeks of January… any particular pictures you want?
Morning, Christy.
What blogs are they talking about? Political blogs in general? Ones done by their own employees?
This from Steve Clemons:
..I suppose it helps to read the referenced article *g*. Officials are posting in Arabic to Arabic language middle eastern blogs in order to hopefully change their minds?
Uhm.
As I wrote this am-
Now, I may be overwrought, but when I see “Manhattan”, “Mob” and “Prosecutor” all in one sentence, my Giuliani bell goes off. Hmmm.
I had forgotten, but remember how no one was supposed to resign after Labor Day from the administration? Schuster just reminded me that Josh Bolton had sent out a memo basically saying “If you’re gonna go, go now” so the White House knew who it would be working with. in the last year.
good morning, Miss Christy (a shout out to the Peanut also – I hope she is feeling better now). Chilly and snowy in the Southern Tier of Upstate New York this morning, with 3 inches of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. and it’s snowing hard right now.
I think we can safely say that winter is here….too bad 50% of the trees still have their leaves on them.
“That Disney collaborates with the government is not unprecedented.”
Really? You mean that ABC extravaganza on Clinton’s mistakes was . . . propaganda?
Re: Fran When asked why she is leaving after the labor day deadline –she said she is special and her job was too complex to allow her to leave then although she has been discussing leaving for the last nine months (much like the rest of us.)
I am sure the State Dept. will create a lively, engaging blogging atmosphere. NOT.
Good morning Christy!
peanutbutter @ 7
I recently heard Richard Myers on Al Jazeera English TV trying to defend U.S. ME policy. Quite a performance. Not. Other guests were all over him, especially the Syrian representative, who is a very fiesty woman.
Again, the woman who is in charge of State is pretending to have a knowledge of the Middle East and trying to leave a legacy of an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement.
Again, Condi’s area of expertise is the Soviet Union of the cold war era. That expert-knowledge is now usless, since the Soviet Union has now passed into the dustbin of history. Reminder: The Russia of today is most certainly not the Russia that was part of the Soviet Union. That Russia also perished along with the Soviet Union and the cold war.
So what can one say about the way she has constituted her Department of State?
Hey Christy, FDLers.
Gonna go OT for a minute and say thank you to the community for keeping me sane. I’ve got a household full of relatives, including my Limbaugh-loving soon to be father in law in town for my wedding tomorrow and Thanksgiving.
Knowing I can retreat to the Lake for some sanity is going to help me survive this. Thanks, y’all.
mui at 10 — No, I mean that Disney worked with the US government during, say, WWII to produce patriotic cartoons and films. The idiocy from Path to 9/11 was a remnant from the Eisner years that got dumped in the new managements lap, from everything I heard.
Re Frannie
D. All of the above
works for me
From what I’ve seen lately, “returning to the private sector” is code for “lobbyist”.
Have a great wedding in spite of your future father-in-law, leinie…
cahuenga at 19 — True, it has been an indicator of “cushy lobbying gig” of late, hasn’t it? But Fran Townsend has always been quite the ambitious person, so I doubt she’ll stay contented simply raking in the big bucks for little to no work and lots of glad-handing without using it as leverage to some other political boost…
Biodun @ 20
Thanks, Biodun. I find myself avoiding conversations with him, because he stopped thinking about ten years ago (or so my fiancee tells me) and he makes me want to scream.
And that’s just sad. So unfortunate what the politics of personal destruction have done to relationships in this country.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 17
I was quoting from the video. Somehow I am still thoroughly convinced Disney is the devil.
leinie at 22 — I just avoid political discussion altogether with wingy relatives. You’ll be related to them long after Bush is gone, and the whole Limbaugh mindset will fade in time…I’ve had more than one wingy relative tell me I was right the last few years as the fog clears. But, in the meantime, life is too short to have to deal with family fued over the Bushies…IMHO anyway.
Biodun @ 15
Well, if you are John Bolton, you say this: In an interview with TIME, Bolton said: “Secretary Condoleezza Rice is the dominant voice on national security and there is no one running even a close second; her ascendancy is undisputed.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2…..0Y_h.s0NUE
And that’s from a guy who actually dislikes Rice heartily.
mui — Robert Greenwald says that Bob Iger, the new CEO, is a decent and thoughtful guy. He’s made some good changes since he’s been at the helm of the company. They are never going to be all things to all people, but I trust Robert’s judgment on someone he knows, too…
Christy Hardin Smith @ 17
Apologize if I sound prickly. That’s not how I wanted to sound.
leinie @ 22
I think it’s always been that way. I’ve been married for 44 years and for 40 of them, until my father-in-law passed away, it was very tense. Like all Repubs, he always felt free to spout his opinions when I was in his house, but was constrained when he was in my house. Anyway, it’s not them your marrying.
Toby at 25 — Except that Bolton is generally full of crap, a total neocon and Cheney-ite, and I wouldn’t trust anything he said without five layers of verification without looking hard and long for an ulterior motive. But maybe that’s just me… *g*
CHS, yeah, that’s why I avoid conversations with him.
Although I did about fall off a chair last night when he referred to Bush as “that stupid Bush” and it gave me hope for the future.
leinie @ 16
My sympathies to you!
Checking out their “blogging press release” it makes two interesting points. That they considered not identifying themselves as it might result in flaming. Apparently they did decide to identify themselves.
Second, they made sure that they didn’t use inflammatory terms like “Islamofascism” since it would deleterious to communicating the US “message”. Apparently the message by the right-wing here is different.
I’m wondering if there’s something like this “domestically”. We do know that there are US Gov’t. officials out their reading blogs…for exampleCol. Steve Boylan
If they are doing this as a coordinated effort with Arab bloggers, why not with English language bloggers. After all, they have so many more English-speakers. In fact, it’s odd that they would pull qualified Arabic translators out of missions to serve in some silly “Bloggers corps” when there is a very high need for them out on combat missions, and in analyzing suspicious communications.
Finally it’s interesting that there’s a similar campaign going on In A Theater Near You. This video, entitled “Citizen Soldier” is even showing as a prevue for Family movies like “A Bee’s World”. Pretty inappropriate for little kids, and I think such “recruitment” propaganda would be offensive to a lot of unsuspecting patrons.
Read some of the comments elicited by seeing the video by supposed military men. It seems to make them want to go out and kill. Particularly the music score.
It’s unfortunate that there aren’t more stories about Bush’s lack of judgement. Putting Karen Hughes in charge of getting the moslem world to love us makes about as much sense as making Atilla the Hun an ambassador of goodwill for the girl scouts.
G’morning Christy
All of the above… maybe she’s being investigated too?
Blogging will undermine the nation!
The sky is falling!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 26
Ditto to that. Don’t know Mr. Iger but do know his wife. She’s terrific and did not marry him because of who he was (honcho at ABC at the same time). She was more famous then then he.
She’s a “salt of the earth” kind of gal.
I’m curious as to what actually changes the mind of someone from one side of the political spectrum to the other? How does it happen? Is it that they find themselves not agreeing with more and more issues and then realize that they agree more with the positions on the other side?
Does “objective” reality come into plar re someone’s political perspective. Obviously people are more or less looking at the same facts and seeing something different. How is this possible? What is the political perspective filter?
rwcole @ 33
Of course I agree, but somehow Chalaby was able to convince a lot of mercuns that Iraq would be a nice 51st state.
About a third of americans refuse to associate themselves with either party
Christy Hardin Smith @ 29
He’s being referred to as “the angriest neocon” in this article – I just think he’s ticked off that he is not getting his (Cheney’s) way.
Sander at 36 — I think sometimes it’s a single “last straw” event after some period of doubts. But I wish I knew…
Ann @ 31 – sympathy on getting a married? That will help my nerves…..;)
Jane (nyc) @ 35
I have to say I am skeptical of Iger, have been since the Path to 9/11 and the airport film doesn’t make me feel any better. Now I am going to duck and cover.
Toby Wollin @ 39
I’ve actually been amazed that many are refusing to be fooled the same way twice. The tarring of Iran seems not to be making much headway.
Re: Fran. Could it be as simple as recognizing, like Harriet, she really has no curb appeal. Her unwinning ways were not effective in carrying water for these folks, and that, as I could see, seemed to be her main job. Never mind what an impossible task that has become.
SanderO @ 36
we all tend to discount facts and events that don’t fit in with our beliefs about how we “know” the world works. i think reality has a way of catching up with us – but how easily and quickly that happens varies widely between people.
and, imo it’s a process not a switch – it’s not easy to change one’s world view so dramatically and the process is not a pleasant one, requiring as it does throwing out much of what one thought was true before having something to replace it with.
Oh lienie, get them talking, but just don’t push back. Ask them if being a good American means holding specific beliefs? Ask them if it’s really true – to be right, you have to think right? act right? talk right?
Ask them if we need to believe in specific things in order to be free?
Fran just wants to spend more time with her family instead of the Manson/Bush Family.
-GSD
selise @ 45
WRT the Iraq War, it’s fairly obvious what made people change their minds-the U.S. is losing.
So our government is concern trolling blogs trying to steer their message?
LMAO.
One can only imagine the creative screen names.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 29
steve clemmons claims that bolton is not a neocon, i think the phrase he uses is, “pugnacious nationalist in the Jesse Helms mold”
not saying i agree with him, but as steve is the number one bolton watcher, i take his perspective seriously.
Bustednuckles @ 49
StallTapper5000 says: I think Bush is doing a good job!
selise @ 50
What’s the difference?
selise @ 50
Hmmm. Maybe Bolton lacks the supposed neocon idealism about spreading democracy.
twolf at 51 — HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
eCAHNomics @ 48
yes. for most people (but not all) i think this is true.
but that is a different kind of change of mind – one that, imo, doesn’t include sympathy for iraqis or recognition that the war was immoral from the start.
selise — I put Bolton in the same framework as Frank Gaffney. Whether you call them neocons or simply jackasses, they are a lot alike…and allied with a lot of the same folks who are just flat out wrong a lot of the time.
leinie @ 41
No, that’s not what I meant. I meant my sympathies to you for having to undergo a whole week of walking on eggs with your future father-in-law, et al, over politics, especially when your nerves are already somewhat frayed over the wedding. I sure hope you’re marrying a wonderful person who is your mainstay over all. Congratulations and best wishes to both of you for choosing each other!
selise @ 55
I agree, but we’ll take what we can get.
there is also (e) all of the above plus an offering from (1) blackwater, (2) halliburton, (3) carlyle (4) American Enterprise Institute, or all of the above…..
Parade Magazine Sunday supplement yesterday was touting the rising power of online and the blogs for political activism.
Guess they didn’t get the memo.
Democracy…use it or lose it.
cinnamonape @ 32
“Citizen Soldier” is a real piece of work. I saw it yesterday for the first time. Among other manipulative things (like the rock music), it intercuts staged shots of Normandy and the American Revolution, the last being accompanied by the quote “I fired the shot that started a nation,” clearly equating Iraq and those wars. This is not a recruiting film — it’s blatant propaganda for the Bush administration, being shown to captive audiences everywhere. I was appalled as were my friends. And as the minister at our local Episcopal church, who had also seen the video and was equally disgusted, said, someone should put together the same video, only instead of intercutting fictional heroics, use shots of the wounded at Walter Reed, with their missing arms, legs and faces. That would be a lot closer to the truth.
Ann, thank you for you kind wishes. I was joking about the sympathy for marriage – and you are right, he is fabulous and I am very lucky, and very happy.
twolf1 @ 51
Funny stuff, funny stuff.
-GSD
Speaking of rats leaving, what is Tony Snow doing?
eCAHNomics @ 52
more here from steve.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 56
i don’t know of bolton being right about anything. didn’t mean to imply otherwise… just find steve clemons’ taxonomy of right wingers interesting.
Campbells Soup and Lowe’s are suffering profit drops.
OPEC is talking about pegging themselves to something other than the dollar…Thanks to the Saudi Daddies’ this talk was quashed.
Geniuses on Wall Street think that the housing and credit problems could hurt the economy.
This all must be good for the Republicans though.
-GSD
selise@64
That’s an assertion about Bolton, not a description of how he’s different from the neocons. I agree with CHS. It doesn’t matter if he’s different.
As part 2 of yesterday’s article on the Impeachment Resolution, I have submitted a Summery of the Resolution itself.
It is very important that we understand exactly what the charges against the Vice President are in the resolution, and that we know the evidence is included in the resolution.
Please check it out, and copy it and use it where ever you need to.
http://willyloman.wordpress.co…..esolution/
Our state department has deployed a concern troll strategery. Subtle
well that right there proves they know nothing about the fine art of concern trolling.
I pick d) on the PS.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 56
So is that where you put Armitage?
Trolls (concern trolls or otherwise) only enjoy their own feces thrown on the wall.
They can’t understand why anything else should be on the wall.
The solution is to restrict them to their own caves. And ban them everytime they show up, anywhere, turds in hand.
GSD @ 66
Well it can be good for some Republicans. There is a LOT of money to be made during economic dislocation. Somebody is buying up houses on the cheap after foreclosures.
Most americans don’t think much about politics at all and their opinions have very shallow roots. If they see that the majority in their neighborhood, church, or workplace are moving in a different direction- they’ll follow rather than deal with being “odd man out”.
Not time yet to buy up real estate even at foreclosure prices…We’ve got another 10% at least to drop.
What about Powell?
dalloway @ 60
I saw “Citizen Soldier” a couple of weeks ago (when I saw “Into the Wild,” a great film btw) and I thought it was obscene. However, it was followed by a preview for a new John Cusak film (”Losing Grace,” I believe) about a man who’s National Guard wife is killed in Iraq, leaving him to raise two young daughters.
Interesting juxtaposition. Coincidence, or was the theatre management sending a not so subtle message? I cetainly hope so.
eCAHNomics @ 67
you’ll have to see steve for more on why he thinks the way he does.
again, i’m not defending steve’s perspective – i don’t know enough about it to judge. but since steve is a dedicated bolton watcher and is probably the person most visibly responsible for preventing the senate’s approval of bolton’s nomination to be our ambassador to the UN … i think it’s worth knowing how steve catagorizes him. that is all.
mui @42
No need to duck and cover. I agree completely about the Path to 9/11. Just saying about him as a person. I think that film was approved relatively early in his tenure at Disney. My take on him is he’s a slow and steady kind of guy in terms of corporate culture…the anti-Eisner. The board at Disney needs to recover from the stacked deck Eisner left him with.
OT–
Meanwhile, McCain is heading back to the market in Baghdad:
selise @ 77
I have to admit that I’m not a big Steve Clemons fan. I find his name-dropping nauseating, and don’t find much value added in his foreign policy opinings. I check his site as some evidence of where the centrist positon on foreign policy might be.
McCain says that he’ll refuse secret service protection if elected- now he’s headed to Iraq. Look for photos of him walking down an Iraq street without protection…He’s tryin to out tough guy Rudy.
Dems don’t have a tough guy in the running- and that could be a big problem on down the road. Hillary’s tryin to take that role – don’t know if it’s working.
We need Tester from Montana.
rwcole @ 81
Beg to differ.
The daddy vote goes from idjits to idjits.
We need a grown-up for grown-ups.
Someone who can show up to work daily and hold together a family.
The solution is to restrict them to their own caves.
I’m hopeing you meant this in a nice way, because it kinda sounds fundy republican.
Judging vs. not judging?
1st Amendment Rights.
It’s got to work both ways for it to work at all.
Let’s not use the tactics of disculsion here, please?
I’m seeing more and more of it here and it saddens me, ’cause ultimately we won’t achieve our goals.
Bit NOLA @ 71
Nah, we can’t do that. We have to know what/how they’re thinking. I tend to not want to visit any of their sites and give them credit for the traffic so if they come here and drop their gibberish we get a two-fer – FDL gets some more looks and we get the benefits of their “thinking” without giving them any extra credit. Their noise is so easily detectable, it is fairly easy to counteract so we all benefit.
Of course, YMMV.
John Bolton was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 letter from the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) to Clinton.
Other signers: Elliott Abrams, Richard L. Armitage, William J. Bennett, Jeffrey Bergner, Paula Dobriansky, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Peter W. Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, William Schneider, Jr., Vin Weber, Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey, Robert B. Zoellick.
If this doesn’t make him a neocon, I don’t know what does.
eCAHNomics @ 80
did you listen to this discussion? i used to cut him a lot of slack… now, not so much.
Mack
Well this won’t be a rational decision. If on election day, voters feel threatened- they’ll vote for the person who they think can protect them.
We may not NEED him- but we may GET him anyway (Rudy).
Sorry. I was trying to make a word that is the opposite of inclusion, but I totally messed it up.
Dakine, I agree that the more information we get, from whatever side, the better-informed decisions we can make.
selise @ 64
Hmm! Bolton not a Neo-Con? He was a signatory on every PNAC letter to Clinton and the Republican Congress (Democratic Senators and Reps “need not apply”) up until his appointment as Ass’t Secretary of State. Those included statements about Iraq, Israel, the war in Bosnia, and Taiwan. So he appears to march lockstep with major Neo-Con agenda points and join with them to promote that agenda. He was a member of JINSA (the Jewish Institute of National Security Advisors) and called by the Z*on*st Organization of America “the best friend of Israel. A member of the Federalist Society.
While John Bolton worked with Jesse Helms, he wasn’t as interested in the Southern Political landscape. Helms did frame Bolton in apocalyptic terms: “John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in the world.” But it’s not evident that Bolton is an apocalyptic Christian fundamentalist himself.
Arrogant, Bullying, Self-Absorbed, Egotistical…yes, yes, yes and yes…but not of these exempts him from being a Neo-Con.
Hugh @ 85
Yeah, it seems to be a distinction without a difference. The only difference I note is that some seem chiefly restricted to international chauvanism, whereas others also want to take us back to the 19th Century on the domestic front.
“…Karen Hughes bigfoot her way around the middle east…”
“CLUNK!” (’70’s Lebanon redux; thousands die..)
“Oops! See! We CAN, as they say in Texas, fuck up a can of peaches!” (Karen smiles an ingratiating-but-cute, nouveau-redneck smile…)
“I go now to smooth things out in Islamabad, and to (ostensibly) support my oppressed sister, Benazir Bhutto, in her struggle against the evil Lord Volde-mush. (With whom, until a month ago, she was negotiating over whether to give it to the Pakistani people missionary-style, or “comme le chien”, as the french so colorfully put it.”)
“Ciao, y’all!”
Christy Hardin Smith @ 56
Just a drive-by before leaving for work- C&L had a post yesterday morning early that contains two great vids: one a precise smackdown of John Bolton by former Brit MP Tony Benn, the other of Benn’s thoughful interview from Sicko. Both well worth the watching. Bolton can’t find an effective argument to rebut Benn, so tries smiling condescendingly instead:
Tony Benn on the “Revolutionary Notion” of Democracy
Cartoon in today’s local paper shows Hillary cryin and screamin that the other dems are beatin up on her- with Osama Bin Laden and other hostile leaders sitting on the sideline waitin to take a shot at her..
This is how the campaign will be waged.
Bolton, Frank Gaffney and Clifford May (who used to be a fine NYTimes reporter in the 1980s) are all (weird) birds of the same feather…
rwcole @ 73
I also beg to differ. My classes at three local colleges lead me to believe that once the broad brush of labels is torn away, the students are very concerned and welcome an opportunity for deeper political discussion.
I have discussions everyday with ordinary Iowans who exhibit deep reflection and
and concern about their children’s world.
mack @ 82
You mean a genuine American hero? Someone who has fought a war, has the heroics and the medals to show for it? Someone who has spent a lot of time in service of the government after military service? Someone like John Kerry or Robert Dole? Yeah, that worked out well for them, didn’t it? Well, didn’t it?
“Dems don’t have a tough guy in the running.”
Uhhhh, R.W., I think, in the next 45 days, you will see John Edwards fill that bill nicely, unless you were talking about the kind of “toughness” that got us into the shitmire, in which case I think the american voters will understand that one tough guy like george bush per century, is one too many.
Ann in AZ @ 70
Armitage also signed almost all the PNAC letters until he was appointed to the State Department by Bush.
In his government career Armitage was only appointed BY and only served under conservative Republican Presidents He doesn’t seem interested in economic or religious conservatism in the least…his sole interest is the expansion of American control in the global geo-political sphere.
Neo-Con.
Biodun @ 94
I prefer to refer to them as Asshole Americans.
-GSD
Tanbark @ 97
I think that this is true only if you equate “tough guy” with batshit crazy.
Christy’s upstairs…
cinnamonape @ 98
I totally agree. So why do a lot of other people claim “He is not a neocon and was against the Iraq war.” He signed the same letter to Pres. Clinton that the other Neocons signed, re: Iraq and Regime change. I believe they were advocating bombing back then, weren’t they?
demi @ 88
Well, exclusion is the opposite of inclusion and that seems to be part of the MO of the reich wing, to exclude anone/anything that isn’t theirs.
And I agree that we do need the info from multiple perspectives. But usually we can get a lot of the right’s framing just through the noise from TradMed, especially it sometimes seems ABC and WaPo0 even more sometimes than Faux Noise.
Reading Hacktackular Howie, although he drives me crazy, it least gives many of the themes for the day/week/month and he loves him some Malkkkin and other such so I can get the flavor without having to take a full bite.
A new thread upstairs. On Townsend, I have to say there is a comic aspect to all these Bush loyalists who are all committed to sticking it out with the Chimpenfuhrer in his bunker until they’re not.
Hugh @ 100
I think this whole matter can be resolved in the next debate. Each Democrat need only cite a few John Wayne-like phrases; i.e., “smoke ‘em out,” “bring ‘em on,” “take islomafacist names and kick islamofacist ass,” etc.. It’s not necessary to actually have ever put anything at risk.
I can get the flavor without having to take a full bite.
Just a wee sniff, eh?
I love it.
And, no toxic calories.
Except, perhaps, for being superseded by Cheney, Bolton might be considered “TEH Neocon.” There is no greater example of foolish, “Might is right and we have the might,” mentality currently unleashed on the world stage. The man is singularly amazing to have been offered as, and attempted to perform as, the United States representative to the United Nations council all the while possessing no idea, whatsoever, about diplomacy or nuance in foreign affairs…simply amazing.
rwcole @ 74
But the Courts may be slowing that down. Seems that a Judge in Ohio (and I believe elsewhere) have put a hold on foreclosures there until the Banks (in this case Deutsche-Bank) actually pony up the documents showing they have Title. Apparenly everything is on hold until then, and the residents can stay put (likely without having to pay rent). I’m sure that others with subprime mortgages will now challenge their eviction on the same grounds. They might be able to stay squatting for many months.
I’m sure this will give many mortgage-holders some breathing space to get their economic affairs in order, and the banks may be encouraged to renegotiate rather than go to court and face a challenge. They might offer the home as a rental, or adjust the interest rate, or extend the payment schedule, or forgive the payments. Especially if they are having a hard time finding the actual Deed.
And it could get very nasty for the banks if the paperwork has somehow been lost or deeply misplaced in some file at some obscure intermediary.
I expect the banks and major lenders to take another hit when the realization that this
So the banks that got the bundled mortgages better have their paperwork in order, and not just a list of properties.
Tanbark
Hope you are right. Edwards came across very soft at the beginning of this campaign- He’s my favorite candidate and he’s going to need to put it into overdrive from here on out.
People vote for reasons that they often can’t even articulate.
Prairie Sunshine @ 59
They make some mistakes. They claim Mark Halperin is non-ideological. What a joke that is. They don’t even list one Democratic.progressive blog at the bottom.
Bushco paying concern trolls? OMG the ultimate wingnut welfare gig. lets see;
“As a lifelong jihadist and successful suicide bomber….”
I am ready for this.
rwcole @ 109
Gotta agree with THAT!
The one speech where John Edwards came off as a real “Soprano” was his speech at Herzliya Israel
He sounded like a regular Dick Cheney at that one.
I am aware that it was at this conference that PM Ariel Sharon gave his courageous speech outlining his disengagement. He helped Israel face some of its major challenges.Throughout his career and public service Sharon has shown courage, including his historic decision to evacuate Gaza. More than anyone else, Sharon has, in my judgment, believed that a strong Israel is a safe Israel and that Israel needs to defend itself against security threats.
Ariel Sharon…Edward’s hero?
I saw firsthand the threats you face every day. I feel that I understand on a very personal level those threats. The challenges in your own backyard – rise of Islamic radicalism, use of terrorism, and the spread of nuclear technology and weapons of mass destruction – represent an unprecedented threat to the world and Israel. At the top of these threats is Iran. Iran threatens the security of Israel and the entire world. Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons.
The Iranian president’s statements such as his description of the Holocaust as a myth and his goals to wipe Israel off the map indicate that Iran is serious about its threats .Once Iran goes nuclear, other countries in the Middle East will go nuclear, making Israel’s neighborhood much more volatile.Iran must know that the world won’t back down.
We have muddled along for far too long. To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep ALL options on the table, Let me reiterate – ALL options must remain on the table.
The war in Lebanon had Iranian fingerprints all over it… Hezbollah is an instrument of the Iranian government, and Iranian rockets allowed Hezbollah to attack and wage war against Israel.
I cannot talk about the war last summer without referring to the Syrian role in destabilizing area. Syria needs to be held accountable… Talk is cheap…It can start by not harboring terrorists and ending its nefarious relationship with Iran.
While Iran is the greatest threat now, but just as alarming is the one on your doorstep. Hamas, with Iranian support, doesn’t make any mistake of its intentions to wipe out Israel, and repeatedly makes calls to raise the banner of Allah over all of Israel.
Israel is willing to go back to negotiating table, little has been seen on the Palestinian side. We instead have seen chaos and violence on the street, and no revocation of violence against Israel.
Israel not only has the right to defend itself, it has an obligation to defend itself. This means continuing to ensure Israel’s military strength, diplomatically and economically
We should be finding ways to upgrade Israel’s relationship with NATO. This could even some day mean membership. NATO’s mission now goes far beyond just Europe. Therefore, it is only natural that NATO seeks to include Israel.
Your challenges are our challenges. Your future is our future. The US will continue to stand by you. God bless you.
My analysis of Iran is if you start with the President of Iran coming to the UN in New York denouncing America and his extraordinary and nasty statements about the Holocaust and goal of wiping Israel off map, married with his attempts to obtain nuclear weapons over a long period of time, they are buying time. They are the foremost state sponsors of terrorism. If they have nuclear weapons, other states in the area will want them, and this is unacceptable.
As to what to do, we should not take anything off the table. More serious sanctions need to be undertaken…I would not want to say in advance what we would do, and what I would do as president, but there are other steps that need to be taken.
[After Iraq, the] American people [are] reticent toward going for Iran. But I think the American people are smart if they are told the truth, and if they trust their president. So Americans can be educated to come along with what needs to be done with Iran.
Tough enough for ya’ll? ready for your “education”???
Yeah, Cinnamon, he sure sucked up to the Knesset there.
Of course, when he got back to america, he STILL didn’t take any A*P*C-directed funds.
:o)
And he also didn’t publicly support george bush’s push to name the Iranian Republican Guard a “terrrist” organization.
Which Hillary voted to do.
For which he has criticized her.
Another question for you, CinnamonApe:
Do you think the Iranian Republican guard is a terrrist organization?
:o)
rwcole @ 109
The main reason Independents and even Republicans should vote for John Edwards for President is that the Republicans have completely messed things up and there is a big backlog of problems that must be dealt with AND Edwards is the one candidate who says we need ‘big bold change’ and puts forward an agenda to meet our current crises.
Nobody else has done so as completely.
Oh, and he has a great haircut and smile!
What’s amazing about the blogging story is there were nicknames for all the Bush supporters who wouldn’t go fight in Iraq, but would blog — they were the Fighting Keyboardists. Now we know there actually are Fighting Keyboardists.
How is it the Bushies continue to surpass even my wildest imaginings with their bizarre behavior?