Blue Texan!

Bush Screwed Up, period.

Morning, BT!

Good mornig B/T.

Willard lives in an alternate reality

It is called gop world

“His lips are moving”

Willard lives in an alternate reality

I prefer to think of it as an alternate delusion.

Hi, BT, and everyone!

the goopers tend to play fantasy politics

Good morning, BT.

Hope you had a nice holiday.

“The president has kept us safe over these last six years and is extraordinarily well-versed in matters of foreign policy.”

Extraordinarily well-versed? Dubya? He can’t think or speak without a phoentically programmed teleprompter. Well-versed in foreign policy? He can’t even button his shirt correctly. Geez Mitt. Full of sh*t much?

Interesting that Romney has “undermanaged” his own image so that he’s widely seen as an “opportunistic phony.” The most chartitable characterization is that he a political chameleon who takes advantage of his surroundings. He’s Zelig.

I see that W style electioneering has launched a civil war in yet another country. He sure does know a lot about foreign policy.

Phonetically, Phonics, phonetic, Hooked on phonics.

Geez Mitt. Full of sh*t much?

His eyes are brown, aren’t they?

The only thing Bush has “mismanaged” about this war is that he doesn’t yet have the sweetheart deal in place transferring Iraq’s oil to his Big Oil friends/clients.

At that point, will the oil flow out of Iraq? No, that’s not the idea. The idea is to make sure that Iraq’s oil does *not* flow to any great extent. Increasing supply brings down prices – which in turn brings down margins and profits for Big Oil.

That having been said – this presents some small chance for hope. Once the oil deals are signed, “victory” *could* be declared, and we *could* get the hell out of there. I fear, however, that Bush is such a vindictive son of a bitch that he’d, even then, leave all the troops in place, just to screw over the next administration.

Mitt Romney “Phonetically, Phonics, phonetic,” phoney.

The R’s need to stick to the Reagan mantra & STFU about Dubya.

Mitt must be British. His admissions are UNDERSTATED.

Thanks Blue Texan.

FWIW, imvho, we were much “safer,” when Americans felt “safe” bringing authorities evidence of terrorist activities. Once George Booosh started shredding the Bill of Rights renditioning and torturing, we lost the strongest bulwark that a free and open society has. George Booosh has given Americans, especially those of Middle Eastern descent, every reason not to come forward.

Two questions. 1) Is Mitt a liar or a hypocrite? 2) How many of the young, sons of Huckleberry and Dog Abuser Mitt, have enlisted, so we do not “walk away and lose” Iraq?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317005,00.html

In the latest back-and-forth, Romney criticized Huckabee’s comments in Foreign Affairs Magazine. In his essay, the former Arkansas governor said President Bush and the administration’s “arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad.”

“That’s an insult to the president, and Mike Huckabee should apologize to the president,” Romney said. Asked about his own criticisms toward the war in Iraq, Romney responded that it’s one thing to criticize a policy that is not working, it’s another to accuse the policymaker of continuing down a path merely for his own benefit.

Afterward, Huckabee said the article was not about criticizing the president, it was about developing a foreign policy that is tough but also more responsive to working with allies. He added he was interested in attracting voters “who care about the future of this country.”

“I’m certainly not standing with Ron Paul and his basically walk away and lose philosophy. Obviously, Mitt Romney didn’t read the article and he should do some reading before he does some talking,” Huckabee told FOX News. “This was not a shot at President Bush. I was supporting President Bush when Mitt Romney wasn’t.”

MSM cannot call gooper candidates on their illogical statements.
That would require some actual thinking on their part.

Good morning everyone :) and a Happy New Year to those I missed yesterday :)
OT, but related..

Dennis Kucinich: A peace-seeking idealist to the core
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/…..tml?page=1

Hey Mitt are you volunteering to pay for this mistake because you will not raise taxes on us or cut Social Security.
I know that you want to privatize Social Security and get your financial service company friends all those inflated fees, but somehow with the Bush economy going South I don’t see that happening.
What I do see is a day when every dollar of income is taxed at the same rate even if it comes from investments or hedge funds.

OT:

cinnamonape January 2nd, 2008 at 7:57 am

On “willing happy”, its on the Diane Rheme show now (sure I spelled her name wrong).

How is Bush keeping us safe when he gives billions of dollars to the country that created Al Quieda? The same country that even today will not let us send troops to look for Ossama.

Bhutto said that she would let us go after Ossama in a joint strike with Pakistan’s army which seems fair to me we could use the help.
I wonder if was one of the reasons she got shot.

Mitt Romney: intellectually dishonest, a liar, a cheat, and a f*cking hypocrite… He badly wants to sit in the Oval Office (not as a guest) and will say and probably do anything to get there.

Mitt has a rock that keeps tigers away!

One day I want to read the real story of this war and find out how much Rummy, Darth and Bush overrode our Generals best advice on how to fight this war.

Willard better apologize to the Preznit-it’s not nice to say that the war and occupation were “undermanaged”.

The lunatic fringe will be pissed!

Willard the shapeshifter-there must be some cartoon character that illustrates his essence (such as it is).

Bush actually likes it that Pakistan won’t allow troops. He really does not want to harm bin Laden, a long time Bush family crony. Even Bush is smart enough to know that risking the family trust funds is a bad idea.

Barking Mad things in this world:

GOP Politicians

American Politics

Re: The Guardian food story

Afterward, Huckabee said the article was not about criticizing the president

Absolutely. What part of “the president has an arrogant, bunker mentality” with regard to foreign relations could possibly be construed as criticism?

One day I want to read the real story of this war and find out how much Rummy, Darth and Bush overrode our Generals best advice on how to fight this war.

I want to know how much they profited.

“I think we were underprepared for what occurred, understaffed, underplanned, and, in some respects, undermanaged.” So the war is FUBAR huh Mitt does that mean we should keep fighting it?
When does the cost of fighting a war become greater than the cost of losing a war Mitt? Perhaps when someone asks you and yours to fight it?
Maybe when someone asks you to pay for it?
Please Mitt explain just how do you intend to keep fighting this war without raising taxes?

“By ‘arrogant’ I meant ‘possessing sunny nobility’. And by ‘bunker mentality’ I meant ‘Archie’.”

Please Mitt explain just how do you intend to keep fighting this war without raising taxes?

Piece of cake. Just borrow some more money from the Saudi’s. After all, it’s not *really* a loan – it’s protection money.

“I think we were underprepared for what occurred, understaffed, underplanned, and, in some respects, undermanaged.”
So Mitt I guess your telling people that Bush’s Masters of Business Administration really was a Gentlemen’s C.

Then why don’t the Saudi’s just pay the Pakistanis direct after all thats what Bush is doing paying them Tribute.

So do I, I’d like to see them brought up on war profiteering charges.

Even with the millions Mitt is spending on advertising I just don’t see how that flipflopper is doing so well in the polls. I mean sure if you repeat a lie often enough it might become true but Mitt’s lies directly contradict each other.
He really is the George Orwell candidate black is white, night is day.
I don’t think anyone has ever tried to push the limits that advertising can brainwash the public this much.

Because it’s not just that country which they fear. You’ve also got to look at Iran, Al-Q, and internal religious-fanatic enemies within Saudi Arabia.

Paying the U.S. for protection is one-stop shopping, with the added bonuses of the ability to gain the bestest and newest military hardware for themselves, and it cements the relationship with the U.S. re OPEC, and its goal of keeping oil production and supplies down. At least for the time being, the U.S. still has the influence to pressure other OPEC countries from going bat-shit crazy, and doing something as obscene as blowing off the OPEC production guidelines/dictates, and flooding the market with cheaper oil.

Nobody stands to gain from more oil hitting the market – except the little people, of course. And I don’t see that as being high on the list of priorities for those who are raking in the bucks.

Hey, this is over the top, with Rollins feeling amazing when he fires out a negative ad. These are getting very close to terrorist threats against Mitt. Can’t we all get along.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..64_pf.html

“The negatives feel good,” says Ed Rollins, the onetime wunderkind of the Reagan White House and now, at 64, the national campaign chairman for upstart Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. “It’s like being a boxer when you’re young. To me, hitting somebody, knocking somebody down, is a great feeling. Firing out a negative ad just feels amazing.”

” They think they’re here to see Ed Rollins coming back to drop to the knees and fire at the groin of Mitt Romney.”

“I admire the fact he’s trying to change the environment,” Rollins says. “What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process.”

So do I, I’d like to see them brought up on war profiteering charges

War profiteering is one of the Bush Family Businesses.

So, could the wonderful private sector leave in place a CEO (or a bathroom attendant) who underplanned, undstaffed, and undermanaged even an office birthday party. Likewise, could the private sector select a CEO who supported or minimized such peformance failures. The other thing George Bush didn’t do is UNDERstand a damn thing.

“I admire the fact he’s trying to change the environment,” Rollins says. “What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process.”

That’s right, Ed. Sing it for teh PreacherMan!

Same old Clintonian bullshit about “tactical mistakes were made”.

Fuck that. It was the act of petro-idiots to go into Iraq, and it doesn’t matter if it’s Willard or Hillary trying to water it down and excuse bush and themselves for unapologetically supporting it.

Of course, the notion the bush has “kept us safe” is ALSO arrant horseshit. Terrorism has more than doubled worldwide. But I’d like to see someone ask Clinton if she thinks we’re safer for having invaded Iraq.

WTWJKO?

(Whose teeth would Jesus knock out?)

Here’s the Huckee and Mitt show:

Here’s Mike Huckabee, explaining, during a “Good Morning America” appearance, why he showed an ad attacking Mitt Romney at a press conference in which he announced that he was too high-minded to use the ad at all: “If I hadn’t have done it, the same media that said, ‘Oh, you showed it to us,’ would have said, ‘You don’t have one. You didn’t show it to us.’”

Yes, but Huckabee must have known that once he showed the ad at his press conference, it would get some airtime on the cable news, right?

Apparently not.

“I don’t know how it got out there,” Huckabee protested. “And even the only network that said they had a copy said they didn’t get it from us. They may have gotten it from one of the television stations who had it in their traffic.”

Not to be outdone, Romney took a spin this morning on “Fox & Friends,” where he was asked about a new John McCain ad that notes his lack of foreign policy experience. “Well, I’m not sure what the ad says,” Romney said. “But, you know, if you just want to get somebody who knows a lot about foreign policy, well, go to the State Department and pluck somebody out.”

OT: Wow! The bipartisan co-chairs of the 9/11 commission have accused the CIA and White House of OBSTRUCTION. And Glenzilla is on it.

I did notice in Ed’s Wiki bio. that he boxed in college. Otherwise, there are some strange elements. He seems to have taught college government and been a college administrator without an advanced degree. Anyway, the current job seems to keep him from having to go on Hollywood Squares or something.

Mitt seems to like the George Bush model. The CEO should have no preconceived knowledge or ideas about anything. He/She will be surrounded by experts on all areas of human endeavor and will have a chief of staff know and ask the right expert. Oh, and we need to shrink the Federal government.

But we are not wining and we can’t afford to stay in Iraq forever. If we leave now Iraq will not be a buffer state against Iran.
Of course the longer we wait to leave the less able we will be to stop Iran from taking over the whole middle east.
But if we leave now and talk to Iran we still maybe able to reach a deal and avoid an unnecessary fight an apology for supporting the Shah of Iran would buy us a lot of goodwill, getting Israel to make a just peace with Palestine would get us even more.
Which would free us up to focus on Al Quieda fighting one enemy at a time is smart. What Bush has been doing is insane.

More Huckf*ckery:

We begin 2008 with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and his sermon on the First Rule of Holes: When you’re in one, stop digging.

If your memory can take you way back to 2007, you’ll recall that Huckabee was asked on the night of Dec. 4 about the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. The NIE had dominated the news for roughly 36 hours at that point, but Huckabee said he’d never heard of it.

Reporter: Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it?

Huckabee: No.

Reporter: Have you heard of the finding?

Huckabee: No.

That was bad, but it wasn’t entirely inexcusable, at least on Huckabee’s part. His staff should have made sure he was briefed on the NIE, and that it didn’t said more about the state of Huckabee’s campaign than about the state of his knowledge of or interest in foreign affairs.

Or so we were inclined to think until we read what Huckabee told former Salon staffer Michael Scherer Saturday. In an interview with Scherer for Time, Huckabee claimed, falsely, that the NIE had come out the same day that he was first asked about it and declared that he thought it was “a little bit ridiculous to talk about it.”

(Same link as my 49.)

More Huckf*ckery:

Amid murmurs of ”Amen!” at a pizza parlor in Sergeant Bluff, Republican Mike Huckabee urged hundreds: ”Don’t go alone. Take people with you. Fill up your car. Rent a van. Hijack your church’s bus, whatever you’ve got to do to get people to the caucus who are going to vote for me.”

707!!

Good one. That’s funny.

But we are not wining and we can’t afford to stay in Iraq forever.

Well, you may know that, and I may know that, but Bush will choose to *not* know that until such time as he gets his oil deal.

If we leave now Iraq will not be a buffer state against Iran.

Not just if we leave *now*. Whenever we leave, Iraq will not be stable enough to act as a buffer against Iran. Maybe the Saudi’s recognize that fact, which would only further their need for U.S. protection, presumably with the same troops recently pulled from Iraq.

What Bush has been doing is insane.

I have nothing to add to that.

It looks like the medias “Operation Save The Straight Talker” has worked out. McCain tops Judy Riuliani in the latest polls.

Speaking of which, can we find out if John McCain GAVE HIMSELF the straight talk moniker?

-G

And Mitt defends Chimpy–again:

With two days left in the campaign, Romney continued his ads against Huckabee. He also assailed Huckabee’s defense of his own failure to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran last month.

”President Bush didn’t read it for four years; I don’t know why I should read it in four hours,” Huckabee said in an interview published Monday in the Mason City Globe Gazette.

Romney seized on the comment: ”I’m not sure whether Governor Huckabee meant the attack as a joke, but this is not a time to be mocking our president, and it was I think in bad taste.”

(Same link as my 55.)

2008 is starting off like gangbusters.

Call Larry Kudlow, the goldilocks economy just ate some poisoned porridge.

Stocks plunge…

-G

Mrs. Huck said (this morn on ‘morning joe’ that she sometimes feels like putting her fist through the tv. Unseemly for a candidate’s wife.

And some Iowa stats:

Population: 2,982,085

Median age: 37.8

Percentage of population 65 and over: 14.7 percent

Percentage of population 85 and over: 2.3 percent

Race: 94.9 percent white, 2.3 percent black, 1.4 percent Asian, 3.7 percent Hispanic or Latino origin.

Mrs. Huck’s got a little rage against the machine going on.

Praise Jesus and pass the bricks.

-G

Jethrene prefers a grenade launcher.

More Iowa stats:

High school graduate: 86.1 percent

Bachelor’s degree: 21.2 percent

Advanced degree: 7.4 percent

Median household income: $42,865

Families below poverty level: 7.3 percent

Homeownership rate: 72.3 percent

45 Democratic pledged delegates, 40 Republican (unofficial totals)

Electoral votes: 7

(Same link as my 63.)

OT – Oil over $100.

Thanks, George.

OT–

Meanwhile, this certainly can’t help on the war on terror:

Filed at 11:51 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several hundred Pakistani families have fled to neighboring Afghanistan in recent days to escape the turmoil in their country, officials said Wednesday.

And the Pakistani military has removed a small number of troops from a border post between the two nations to tend to problems elsewhere, said Col. Martin Schweitzer, a U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan.

”Clearly, we’re very interested with what’s going on over there — we’re watching it pretty closely,” Schweitzer told Pentagon reporters.

Last week, Swopa brought up the need to focus on what actually works in addressing terrorism. This seems an appropriate spot to re-post, with some tweaks and additions:

What doesn’t work:

Massive military responses to terrorist attacks. You don’t bomb terrorists out of existence — you bomb them into existence.

Wholesale violations of human rights, international law, and rock-bottom decency in response to — or in imagined prevention of — terrorist attacks. How do you discourage lawlessness through lawlessness?

Demonization of whole groups and populations as incoherently anti-you. This merely strengthens the hand of the few genuinely incoherently anti-you nutcases in their efforts to convince others that you are perhaps worth hating after all.

What works:

Stop behaving contemptibly. If you’re stealing people’s land and resources, if you’re violating international law, if you’re trampling on human rights, do please try to put a lid on all that, would you? The less contempt you invite, the smaller the pool of contempt from which seeds of violent reaction may emerge. And especially, do not defiantly continue said contemptible behavior on the lame excuse that acting otherwise would constitute capitulation to terrorists. All you would be capitulating to are law and decency.

Lose that tired old war model. Don’t flatter thugs by portraying them as world-historical warriors. Catch them and bring them to justice if at all possible, and for heaven’s sake don’t bulldoze their relatives’ homes. (We didn’t do that to Tim McVey’s relatives, did we?) Behaving lawfully increases your likelihood of garnering respect, even if grudging. And if law-enforcement tools prove truly, truly inadequate, do take care not to incinerate whole neighborhoods or cities in the hopes of toasting a few thugs. If you do harm innocents, admit so immediately and unambiguously — don’t list 6-year-olds as “militants.”

Eavesdrop. Please. Really. No one ever said you shouldn’t. For “U.S. persons,” just get a specific, targeted warrant. You can even do it retroactively. How cool is that! The FISA court has approved nearly 100% of all warrant requests over the last three decades. If that’s not pliant enough for you, maybe you’re in the wrong line of work.

Habeas. Every daybeus, and I don’t mean maybeus. Don’t look so glum. If the terrorists really “hate our freedom,” then genuine due process should be pure torture for them, no?

Stop talking gobbledegook — it rots your brain. Talk less about fighting terrorism and more about preventing terrorism. Take this test: Whenever you suspect you may be talking nonsense, swap in the word “murder” for “terrorism.” Can you fight murder? Can you wage a global war on murder? But you can prosecute murder, and — through vigilance and example — reduce its likelihood.

Rinse, repeat, and if you see something, say something.

Barry MaGuire’s Eve of Destruction is echoing through my head.

-G

say it loud
9/11 HAPPENED ON CHIMPIES WATCH ,while he was vacationing he was warned!!!
his answer to one of the informers was
THX U COVERED UR ASS

So’s Marcy.

Remember the sign in the Simpson’s, “Proctorviille Iowa, Controlling You Destony Since 1932″!

Oops; to be clear, what I’m re-posting above is a comment of mine, not Swopa’s post.

do you actually believe the wanted to fight terrorism in an ECONOMIC and JUDICIOUS way?there has always been terrorism ..in 1920 WALL satreet was blown up…why did we NOT invade Wall Street?

Yes, this is what happens when you don’t want to offend the Bush dead-enders who comprise 70% of Republican primary voters while simultaneously not sounding completely delusional to the rest of the country that hates Bush and the war. But it’d be nice if someone in the press would call these two on the illogic of this silly rhetorical game they’re playing.

Yup. You did the right thing in voting for Bush. Though, he got us into an unnecessary war and screwed it up, he kept you safe, which is the president’s primary job after all.

How bad is it in Pakistan if people are going to Afghanistan to be safe?
Every once in a while something so surprising happens that it blows my mind.
I assume that the General is calling real estate agents in New York.

Good catch Biodun!

LOL!

B-40 or M-79?

Ahmen.

More to the point, why didn’t we drop bunker busters on Appalachia in the search for Eric Rudolph?

Oil just hit $100 a barrel.

it is such a total SHAM
its almost laughable,if i wasnt so sad

Mighta hit the “base”!

heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED for real

hahahahahahahahahahaa
thanks for the laugh

Yes I’m sure Bush and Darth are doing the Snoopy Dance right now…like robots would.

Thanks! As they say, from frying pan to fire…

all the oligarchs!!,and you teh funny!

Mitt Romney is an Ass and completely unfit to even think about running for president….

Anthony Circosta, a decorated Iraq War veteran from Agawam, needed a gun permit in Massachusetts to get a promotion at his security guard job and to pursue a possible career as a police officer. But first he needed to have his record cleared of a childhood felony – shooting a classmate in the shoulder with a BB gun when he was 13.
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…..gop_storm/

Wow. Chris Dodd’s wife is Morman. Speaking on MANBC now.

AZ Matt found the quintessential editorial cartoon for this post

OT My congressman, Tom Lantos, is retiring which means that Jackie Speirs can take this seat with no problems. I am delighted but am sorry that he is retiring due to cancer. He is 79.

“…this is not the time to be mocking our president…”

The fuck it isn’t, Willard. It’s a GREAT time to be doing it. :o)

In fact, if you’re stupid enough to think you can get elected WITHOUT doing it, then you’re too stupid to BE the preznint. :o)

(On second thought, looking at goatboy; maybe not…)