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Anyone worried that George Bush will burn the house down before we get the chance to take the matches out of his hand will not find any comfort in Jonathan Landay’s dispatch today. Evidently Bush promised naval forces would deliver aid to Georgia without getting approval first from Turkey, our NATO ally who controls access to the Black Sea. And US-based hospital ships are weeks away:
"The president was writing checks to the Georgians without knowing what he had in the bank," said a senior administration official.
Andrew Sullivan weighs in on that little glint McCain is getting in his eye at the thought of Presidentin’ a war (which he already seems to be doing, at least in his own mind):
What Americans have to decide is whether, after the last seven years, this kind of with-us-or-against-us crusade against enemies near and far is the right approach to the current crisis, or whether it is part of the reason we are already in so deep.
It was terrifying after 9/11 when we had a yahoo President saying he wanted to "smoke them out of their holes" and everyone applauded. If people were thinking that now might be a good time to repent for that sin and scrutinize John McCain’s rootin’ tootin’ cowboy approach to international diplomacy a little more critically, I’d concur.
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Hi Jane. Another example of knowing/betting Who the Headliner is, based on the Title, before we Click. Damn, if I had a nickel, I’d be richer.
Cowboys should stick to what they do best. All chaffing aside, oh, wait…that’s right. He Ain’t No Real Cowboy. Ha!
Ah….the ubiquitous Jane.
that little glint McCain is getting in his eye
Glint Eastward: the “Go ahead. Make my day.” kind of bluster.
Even flying in “humanitarian” aid can be perceived as provocation. How would we like it if the Russians flew humanitarian aid into Cuba? Hopefully the Turks won’t go along and this latest idiocy will be cut off at the pass.
OK Pups Digg this Post from Jane and for the Lake!
From Being There:
Louise: It’s for sure a white man’s world in America.
O/T
Jane Hamsher did and interview with Glenn Greenwald on the Money Bomb and the Accountability Now project at Salon. Salon Radio: Jane Hamsher
Well done, Jane. Thanks!
You don’t understand.
Ready, shoot, aim!
The question that has not been asked or answered — did John McCain use his “close personal friendship” with President Saakashvili to encourage Georgia to attack South Ossetia?
Did John McCain’s foreign policy meddling cause this crisis?
actually McSame loves shooting his load, from 10 thousand feet up…but he even screwed that up
In addition we are going to put missiles in Poland and Putin (he of the soulful eyes) is having a fit. Don’t blame him. We are not keeping our agreements and are headed for a new cold war if we aren’t careful.
IMO, this recent posturing by McCain relative to the situation in Georgia is the clearest evidence to date that he is completely unfit to serve as president.
You know they have to be rolling on the floor at the Kremlin laughing at our impotent and disorganized government. Proud to be an Amurican under bush!
Um, mod….#9 is not violent? I’m just asking for fairness. Right? Or?
Take a look at this photo and tell me if you don’t think the two of them can work it out.
P.S. they’ll probably have great make-up sex
It just never occurred to me that Bush would bring back the cold war.
What’s next on his list.
Not a mod but I’d guess since that comment is on the lines of the circular firing squad AND not directed specifically at an individual, it would be considered OK although maybe borderline in some folks eyes.
Debtor prison most likely (although he would probably be OK with going back to Dickensian times where stealing a loaf of bread was a capital offense).
trying to paraphrase Pat Buchanan as closely as I can:
“Does anybody doubt that John McCain will be a war-time president? He’ll end up making Dick Cheney look like Ghandi….”
And there are lots of videos of McCrazy out there saying “My friends, there *will* be more wars. I hate to tell you this, but it’s true.”
Gosharoonie. I showed that photo from Huffplace to my husband this morning, after I had a smile on my face. Ewwww. Make-up sex? Ewwwwwwww. With him?
I’m 56, so I know better. :)
Considering what they’ve done to the national debt, Bush and Cheney would end up in a SuperMax.
Let’s leave it at that.
Circular or not….nasty is nasty. Smack is smack.
I apologize if my comment hurt anyone’s feelings.
Naptime for me. And reading. See you all later.
Could the public posturing of both mccain and bush and condi have given the idiot in Georgia the idea-the same idea that the entire country had-that the good ol US would come riding in on its white(now more black than white) horse and pull their nuts out of the fire. Georgia started this fracas, killed some Russian peacekeepers and tried to retake a part of the country that has been more or less a part of Russia since 1995. Then just as soon as the Russians respond- same as they always have- said leader starts screaming for the US. When the bushies say that they were going to send in ‘humanitarian supplies’ the same ‘leader’ starts yelling on statewide TV and Radio that the US was sending in troops to take over the airfields and ports. Then Gates shot that down quickly. When Rice told that dummy one thing in private-don’t poke the bear-but then publicly cheered him on, is it any wonder that confusion reigned. bush has stepped into a big pile, what he needs is a turd blossom to come get him out. No, scratch that. What bush needs-until 20 jan 09-is a minder to keep him from starting any more wars. Dumb ass. All Hat, No Cattle.
This was linked earlier, Seumas Milne at The Guardian writes a fact-filled editorial giving background and history of Georgia. It still stands relevant 24 hours later if you haven’t seen it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..ia.georgia
seizing all their asests to restore the treasury
Well you know, beauty is in the soul-searching/soulful eyes of the beholders. Anyway, they have shared interests, like invading sovereign nations, for example.
Try to put this in perspective by looking at the Russians’ response:
It’s Russia’s job to “punish” Poland, a country it occupied less than twenty years ago?
(link)
McCain is inflammatory, but he has his counterparts.
A country like Poland is trying to draw a red line about where the Russian “sphere of interests” ends, with the realistic recognition that that its sphere of interests encompasses Georgia and that neither the U.S. or Europe can do anything about it. I’m personally displeased with the shield, but Poland’s perspective is not the same as ours. That said, there was clearly an element of provocation on the U.S. part here: the U.S. hastily granted concessions on points that had scuttled the negotiations earlier this summer.
Saakishvili has the military savvy of Saddam Hussein.
-G
With what troops does Bush want to fight the Russians with? Wait does this mean that Bush is going to pull troops out of Iraq after all just who is the bigger threat to us Al Quieda or Russia?
Brendan,
Tell me what the American response would be to, say…….some Russian missiles in Cuba?
-G
You are absolutely correct.
It was a very interesting photo, wasn’t it?
I love body language.
Let’s ask Dana Perino.
He’s like “Yosemite Sam” only from an old folks home and with a walker “Im the rootinist tootinist hombre west of the…uhm….uhm… Pecos, my friend”
It’s Yosemite McSame!
I was a bit surprised to see a piece “Georgia’s Recklessness” on the Washington Post’s op-ed page. It’s a good one.
Of course, it still doesn’t get at the question ckls @10, or Jane Hamsher, or emptywheel have been asking:
What’s John McCain been talking on the phone with Saakashvili about? And what did Rove and Saakashvili talk about on July 12?
Brendan,
I found that answer.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. Air Force officer warned on Tuesday that Russia would be crossing “a red line” if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.
From Reuters.
-G
How can John McSame be talking to somebody several times a day and not be able to able to pronounce his name?
Imagine if Georgia had joined NATO back in April as Bush had wanted. Then in August Georgia starts a shooting war with Russia. What would NATO have done then? Probably nothing. Would the US have come to Georgia’s aid under Bush to redeem NATO’s unmet pledge? Very scary.
In April, the other NATO nations (Germany and France) did not trust Georgia’s president to behave himself. So for the first time NATO turned down a request from the US for a new member to join. Who is looking smart now?
Obama had said that he favors Georgia being in NATO. After this August mess, we have to be very careful about that.
As you know, we had a long history last century overthrowing Cuban governments, ultimately instituting a mafia state, then attempting to invade it when our puppet regime was deposed. So the answer, of course, would be outrage and indignation. But the Cubans wouldn’t necessarily be crazy to want the missiles there, would they?
A small repair job, no charge
It’s easy to mix up with Shalikashvili, a name I believe McCain pronounced correctly.
I think you miss my point: McCain actually does have Saakashvili working from a script. They do talk on the phone. They are in cahoots. This is a problem, to say the least.
Here is a message from MoveOn dot com and Eli Pariser and an opportunity to donate to Obama. His message is at least listening to!
Right on the money on all your points. This was a terrible statement by Obama to make, to let himself get dragged in McCain’s wake that way; he seems to prefer the path of least resistance.
Even if there were merits to the argument that Georgia should be in NATO (which there are now clearly not), the middle of a shooting war was no time to make the argument.
But in the US, if you don’t knee-jerkily talk tough it is a demerit point against you.
I was very disturbed by Obama’s yes-yessing Georgian/Nato membership.
Saakashvili has ruined his nation all for some neo-con fantasy.
Meanwhile Bush continues to push Turkey further and further away from the US.
-G
Obama does play his cards close to the vest, so there is a little bit of hopes in his statement:
He has only endorsed the Membership Action Plan for Georgia — this would seem to leave room for a veto by other NATO members.
He also only says here that he “has” called for such a Membership Action Plan while he now only calls for a vaguer “deeper relationship”.
He also hasn’t insisted on the territorial integrity of Georgia.
Those are all points I agree with. I frankly think “traitor” is not too strong a word for Saakashvili, who had 2000 troops in Iraq at the same time he was willing to start this war.
This is a political reality I think Obama recognizes, but it’s still a problem when he allows dangerous premises to be established without any opposition. As you’d agree.
I would say, if NATO is reluctant to pony up in Afghanistan, I can’t imagine they’ll be waiting to send their military up against Russia to protect some batshit insane corporate lawyer who’s ability to up the ante that he can’t pay out seems to be his only strong point.
-G
If we’re lucky, he’ll get started on his stated goal to “replenish the ol’ coffers” before too many people lose their lives.
Swopa’s here
Holy crap… Long-term (as opposed to Instant) Karma is gonna get you Andrew. It’s pretty funny that the Duchess of DuPont is so vehemently opposed to Johnny Jingo and his former man-crush Preznit Dumbass, and is writing such “scathing” blegs (his word?) about their take on Furrin Policy and Goin’ Ta War.
Everyone is allowed to change their minds, hell we all do it, but Andrew Sullivan? Bwahahahahaha
Andrew has lost his mind apparently…and his memory as well. He’s the guy who accused us (us, being DFH’s) of being “secret Islamic 5th columnists” and worse… he’s the guy who spent so many words excoriating us and now it’s a revelation to him that we were right all along and it’s eating him up, him with all his righteous arrogance and posturing.
So it’s now a major source of amusement to see Sullivan admit that he was fool and try to prevent a second mistake if he can… my question is how soon does he forget that he’s “seen the light” and go back to questioning our patriotism and right to exist as US Citizens again? Not long, unless I miss my guess… but that’s going to be a story for another day.
After we get our fill of saying, told you so, can we please welcome these folks with a warm blanket and hot cocoa? There are going to be a lot of intelligent people emerging from the dark side and coming back on shaky legs towards the reality based community. I hope we will welcome them, not shun them.
Do we want more people to admit they’re wrong, or simply remain silent? Honor the small changes towards what is good.
Demi, # 9 is certainly NOT violent nor advocating such. It is a snarky comment on the old saw: “ready, aim, fire”, and these buffooons in the gov’t shoot first before determining the target, and without taking aim. Such scattershot tactics are dangerous to us. Remember “Shooter” Cheney? Same mindset. Incompetence and impulsiveness.
IMO, and to my surprise, some Firepups are very literal and miss snarky comments sometimes.
Your advice and counsel are wise, but I suspect with Sully his “seeing of the light” is transient. He’s a Leopard who will turn and rip out your throat in a P-Town minute because he’s an intellectual, don’cha know.
He was not only a full-throated supporter of the war, but in favor of locking us all up and shooting the key into space. So forgive me if I’m a bit suspicious of this particular convert….