Good morning and thanks for the post Attaturk.

The raid by the FBI on Broadwell’s home yesterday seems to signal that the long knives are out for Davey P, (R) Neoconfantasyland. (goddamn the President for recycling the over rated asshole) I haven’t read Elliott’s thread from yesterday about this and maybe it was touched on there but it seems to me that DP has exposed himself to prosecution by the military. Thank goodness the President left the Exectutive and military littered with republicans because they are very good at eating their own.

Hey, Dave, that roar you hear is the karma train headed your way.

There’s always been a long line of media waiting their turn to play Bathsheba and burnish King David’s image.

They provided advice to field commanders that sometimes conflicted with orders the commanders were getting from their immediate bosses.

I call that “treason”.

As for Broadwell, I’m sure she plied him with her feminine wiles. Like playing John Phillip Sousa, obtaining red, white and blue Viagra and laying at attention.

Soooo over this sordid bullshit.

I haven’t read Elliott’s thread from yesterday about this and maybe it was touched on there but it seems to me that DP has exposed himself to prosecution by the military.

I’m not sure that’s true. While adultery is against the UCMJ, there seems to be a consensus that he didn’t begin fucking around until after he’d retired from the Army.

Thanks, attaturk, did also notice that while there was expression of sympathy for the family Petraeus, none for the woman’s family – when she was not the one making the public announcement of bad behavior.
The woman is, as you say, usually blamed for hanky panky, but in my lifetime I’ve yet to observe a liaison where one partner is unwilling and/or innocent.

Good morning, pups. Today we’ve got Brooks, Cohen, Nocera and Bruni. Bobo has decided that he must step up to the plate and offer President Obama his advice. [sigh] In “Obama the Dealmaker” he gurgles that President Obama has a chance to build a great middle-class economy, but he must isolate those who distract with their partisan incentives and instead present a clear offer. It’s just too effing rich. It’s OBAMA’S job to isolate the folks who distract with partisan incentives? Lemme clue you in, you idiot — it’s YOUR party that’s infested with tea party lunatics and Grover Norquist worshipers. Mr. Cohen addresses “The Need for U.S.-Iran Talks” and says armed conflict with Iran in 2013 is still possible and there is no more immediate strategic challenge for the re-elected president. I no more think that Iran will attack Israel than I think I’m the Queen of the May, but YMMV. Mr. Nocera tells us “A Texas Prosecutor Faces Justice” and that too often, a prosecutor’s conduct goes unchallenged. Not this time. In “The Siren and the Spook” Mr. Bruni says in clucking over the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell affair, we’re casting roles and assigning blame with our usual chauvinism.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got a variety of bagels with cream cheese. It’s a poppy seed bagel for me. This is a frustrating time of year down here. Temps had been in the low 40s and 30s at night, so I put the blanket on the bed. What’s the temperature now? 60°. You can’t win for losing! Have a great day.

For what it’s worth, it’s not just Petraeus. That’s a nice crop of leaders the military has going for it…

Yup. And now this about another general.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/us/top-us-commander-in-afghanistan-is-linked-to-petraeus-scandal.html?hp&_r=0
Nothing like rooting around in the bed sheets to get media attention. Sounds like housecleaning to me.

And to think a James Bond movie is tops at the box office this week…we’d be disappointed if our favorite spy didn’t boink beautiful women.

The woman is, as you say, usually blamed for hanky panky, but in my lifetime I’ve yet to observe a liaison where one partner is unwilling and/or innocent.

And the “burden” so to speak, is on the men. Nobody can force a stiffie onto someone.

but he must isolate those who distract with their partisan incentives and instead present a clear offer.

Shorter Bobo: “Don’t listen to me anymore Mr. President”.

The guy had an affair. The woman had an affair. VERY common in America today. He resigned. Okay, that’s news. But once that news cycle was done, the sordid details should be left to the National Enquirer.

Boxturtle (Can think of LOTS of things more newsworthy than a common affair)

Thanks, Marion, love Bobo’s tushtushing at the president about the nuisances he attracts. Reminds me that the wingnuts love to blame him for the racism he provokes. If they hate you, it’s your fault for being exactly what they are most afraid of/hate.

Indeed. But DiFi NEEDED to know!!

Israel won’t attack Iran but they sure seem like they are trying to force a reaction out of their neighbors by hurling shells, “dramatically” expanding West bank settlements and general sabre rattling. They don’t think the US will back them if they strike first but are certain we will if they are attacked.

seems to me that DP has exposed himself to prosecution by the military.

How? he’s NOT military anymore, he’s civilian CIA. Having your computer hacked by the Chinese isn’t a crime, if that’s what happened.

I’m not even sure he violated civilian rules, the woman was not a subordinate.

Boxturtle (Just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean it’s a crime)

Looks like a choice of burdening himself there, and might I point out that waiting until he was no longer subject to military law against cheating, not exactly an indication of uncalculating innocence.

Hey, I’m not defending the guy.

With wingnuts (and at this point almost all Republicans…) it’s all projection all the time.

It’s reckless to think you can manufacture an economic crisis for political leverage and then control the cascading results.

Interesting that he’s telling the above to Obama now, yet he didn’t see fit to tell the house GOP that anytime during the last four years.

Boxturtle (What an asshat)

The last two. And everybody knows that Republicans are the very serious people.

Gotta go to work!

She can pretend not to read the Enquirer, the Tattler and the Weekly World News in the supermarket checkout just like the rest of us.

Boxturtle (Thinking about it, I doubt she’s been in a grocery in years)

No, I got your meaning. It’s pretty funny to see two people in a bungle, and blame just the one.

I sure hope you’re right. But Bibi is a paranoid, frightened little man. Who knows he has as much support in Congress as Obama does, perhaps more.

He might well strike, and hope congress wins the fight.

Boxturtle (You can’t predict when someone like that will snap)

Exactly. I can’t help but think this is a shiny object or a mechanism to tidy up the foreign policy house before renovations.
Edit: here’s a link http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/10-4

That manufacturing job ought to be patented, do not know how anyone did all that damage when he was junior senator from Illinois. But I honestly did have some one point out to me that it wasn’t the president, w, who enacted the first TARP that demanded no repayment, but Obama from his senate seat. Rrriiiiggghhhhttttttt.

There are still lots of loose ends. Congress needs to subpoena him if he doesn’t show up voluntarily. And now, it seems, Gen Allen as well.

It’s not entirely clear about Petraeus’ resignation. Certainly it was from the CIA. But did he resign from the military as well or just retire there? It’s significant, though either way he’s still subject to the UCMJ and there could be action that way.

On a lighter note. . . the FBI entered the consort’s home for awhile for a look-see, and they took a computer. While they were there a prankster ordered a Dominoes pizza delivery for them, but they didn’t answer the doorbell.

Retired before taking the CIA directorship. IMHO, the prospect of his emails being subpoenaed was what made him confess before it came up in hearings.

Everyone was perfectly willing to let King David do “what a man’s gotta do to feel like a man”. But email evidence apparently shows Ms. Broadwell had personal access to the email account of the director of the CIA. And she was making claims about a secret CIA prison in Libya last October. Makes you kind of wonder how she got that information. That in itself is a floggin’ offense.

Carrying on at least one and possibly two illicit affairs by email is prima facie evidence of terminal stupidity and inability to lead effectively. Overexposure to Powerpoint rots the brain.

Amazing that otherwise cautious people fail to see that “Delete” doesn’t mean you lose your past. You either do it or you don’t.

Already retired. . . thanks.

But has he resigned his commission yet (or will he) based on recent events? He has beaucoup benefits socked away with that commission in his pocket. That loose end will be interesting to watch. . .the conflict between self interest versus the matter of integrity in the services doesn’t (on paper) allow much leeway, especially when subjected to public scrutiny.

Now you’re making me wonder if he can claim service stress for his problems with behavior. Probably been done before.

What a way to start the morning? Has there been so much drama since the OJ trial? Or, what did Obama know and when did he know it?

First McChr’stal, now Gen Pet….So much integrity and we’re all s’posed to admire the warriors. I really think not.

Live by the M$ Office, die by the M$ Office. His Outlook is now poor because he Excelled at putting his Powerpoint where it didn’t belong, and was incautious about letting the Word get out.

W and the Mighty Wurlitzer spent years grooming King David to be the next Eisenhower. All that effort gone to waste. Kinda makes you want to shed a silent tear.

I still like Glenn Greenwald’s scorching of the media coverage. I don’t disagree with the post and comments, but here is another angle:

Petraeus scandal is reported with compelled veneration of all things military

When you learn about the past of Paula Broadwell… you can see she’s been taking her cues from right wing think tanks such as Hudson institute. This woman was on a mission to take the General down while cashing out and adding a notch to her belt. Mission accomplished. With Ms Kelly in the mix… and unpaid liaison to the military it’s abundantly clear that there are all sorts of friends with benefits games being played by the top brass who throw caution to wind showing extremee hubris believing that they won’t be caught in their dick play.

Hopefully it will expose what a bunk of lying jerks Petreus and his ilk are and the babes they play with who seem to be honey pots of the extreme right.

Wrong kind of war, anyway. When we invade a nation that was leaving us alone, scraping up heroism is disabled.

Not to disagree…but why would she/Paula write such an adoring book?
Though it appears there is no one to trust.

the other other woman…

http://www.televisioninternet.com/news/pictures/kelley2.jpg

The troops! that get tossed out on the street when they come apart in those not at all glorious wars.

Taking the general down would not be good for the returns from writing her biography of him, though.

Bev,

I believe she was an operative for Hudson institute or some other ultra right wing think tank who needed to get to the General who ran the CIA… and find out what they were not supposed to know and even influence policy. Look into her past and what she’s been doing running around the country pushing extreme right wing military agenda to take the ME… for???

She wasn’t intending to take him down… but she did because of the interference of the other woman. Kelly’s cat fight blew the entire operation. Hubris. Paula thought she could be a plant with benefits and she didn’t need another woman interfering with her mission. My guess.

You’ll find this interesting:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/11/11/a-covert-affair-petraeus-caught-in-the-honeypot/

So her book was phoney adoration? I have no idea; I do not find him charming.

It’s hard for me to see the woman styled as cold and calculating, but falling apart out of jealousy? But then, I have practically no taste for drama.

yes… she needed to get close to the CIA dude. She was an agent for some group… hands down and clearly liked being the mati hari superwoman who could tempt the General… she succeeded and being the egotistical idiot he thought he could have some fun and threw caution to the wind and was completely compromised.

This was meant to be a way for the group which she worked for to control policy and have access to black ops and so forth. She’s a right wing nut job… They like the spy game and she believed she could get in there with her adoration book and her abs… it worked.

It wasn’t jealousy… it was that her mission could be compromised. She needed to be numera una and have his complete trust. When she realized that he now was nothing but a philandering loose canon she needed to get the distraction out of the way. I suspect she thought her threats would silence Jill. But it back fired and exploded.

More will fall if this ends up digging into her past. This woman is vile.

But heck… they’re all vile… in the national security state.

The above “covert” link is fascinating…..Thanks. Yes, VILE

This is not what it appeared to be on first blush. This *affair* exposes.. maybe… how disgusting the game is played… The CIA is a secret unaccountable agency which engages in all manner of foreign policy operations. WAY WAY WAY too much power.

Like the Pentagon. Which does not expose its budget to actual examination, just tells congress they don’t Dare cut it. Obama is scaring them.

Since this is evolving into a regular CampFollowerGate, what with the addition of another Other Woman, and an Other General, I eagerly await, as an Army old-timer, the first appearance of some other old timer blaming this on feminism and political correctness keeping the military from having sex with the local women, like in the good old days. Back in the day, alcoholism was almost mandatory in the military, and going with prostitutes was almost as expected during tours or deployments in foreign lands. Then they turned the military into some sort of Mormon Mafia, and all of a sudden you weren’t allowed drink or whore around on deployment. No wonder we have generals straying with white women camp followers. They don’t have any other natural outlet!

Bonus points for any dinosaur who specifically cites Rep. Schroeder’s closing down of the AAFES steam-and-creams in Korea as the beginning of the end of the good old days.

That outcome is hard to imagine, but anything’s possible. Never heard of a flag officer pleading stress. . .

Petraeus may have the keys to put an end to Benghazigate as well as his affairs of the heart. He could take a fall and make it all go away. If that comes to pass, I doubt the public will be privy to all that’s said.

It’s a surreal mess, no?

It’s an outgrowth of the sex ed, teaching abstinence. Which made the abortion rate soar so badly Dallas Bd of Ed ended it.

Like telling congress that if they cut funds for security, people die?

And we are all s’posed to be so loyal and proud of the military…with its incredible arrogance. Thanks for the reminder.

La Rochefoucauld has a nice maxim to the effect that there are women who have never had an affair (Galanteries, as the French used to call them), but few who have had only one.

I dunno, Box; I kind of like it when the media gives equal opportunity time to super-patriot jizz stains and Bill Clinton’s jizz stains, so to speak.

When rightwingers get caught with a wandering dick, especially since Petraeus was the head spook, it helps keep the sanctimony from their side down to a more manageable level, and that, I’m all for.

BTW, I haven’t heard anyone flacking the idea that poor David got ensnared by wily vixen Broadwell’s sexy ways. It definitely took two to tango, looks like to me.

If it turns out she was a Mossad or KGB agent, then we can re-calibrate. :o)

“…grooming Kind David to be the next Eisenhower…”

Yes, they did that. The question is, was Obama’s putting him in as honcho at the CIA intended to derail that, or enhance it? Given the lack of attractive preznintial candidates for this election, you can make a case that by bringing Petraeus into the tent, Obama was ensuring that he wouldn’t have to run against him. That seems most likely, and after that, if Petraeus got the thigh-sweats for the White House, then he wouldn’t be a threat to Obama, but only to whichever democrat came later, to run. Obama has never been troubled by how badly his penchant for doing rehab on republicans might leave the democrats in the political shithouse.

Why would rightwing Broadwell want to take Petraeus down? He was the darling of the republicans. They would have danced naked to have him run this time around.

The crazy wing of the GOP would have led the dancing. They love a man on horseback. We can speculate, and should. (Why not? It’s fun. :o) ) but I think that Petraeus was…smitten…with an attractive, literate woman who was 20 years younger and was writing a gushing biography of him, while she was turned on by proximity to a powerful, influential man. More than that? I’m listening and reading. :o)

my fave raconteur

I didn’t read the whole thread so maybe someone else has brought it up but, as I understand it, article 2 of the UCMJ applies to retired officers as long as they are drawing retirement pay.

Don’t think there’s much chance of a prosecution, so it’s probably just academic.

Men are only as loyal as their options. So a woman that gives a man options is by default the instigator.

No misogyny, this stuff about David Petraeus’s side adventure is really simple:

Petraeus married for 37 years, like any faithful husband, celebrated his 37th anniversary, but, by imbedding in bed with Paula Broadwell who was 37 and used to be embedded with Petraeus in desolate, cold mountains of Afghanistan. Paula, now 40, jealously sends threatening emails to another woman, Jill Kelley, who happens to be 37, a friend and possible mistress of Petraeus. Jill Kelley, younger and hotter, a Labanese Hezbollah bebe, is no small potato and possibly may be banging another General in Afghanistan and their 20000 to 30.000 pages of communications are now being investigated. How the hell these moms with kids get time to write 10 pages, let alone thousands of pages of affairograms?

It seems our national security is well taken care of because top leaders of our military/ security/government institutions are lost in vagina. On the other hand, they have enough time to waste on nonsense like beating the crap out of Occupy wall Street kids as national security threat, don’t ask don’t tell, no gays in the military while these married mothers with kids (milfs) are f****** the brains out of top people entrusted with out national security.

It would not be surprising if it turns out that Israel has been using these women to manipulate Petraeus to provide false intelligence so that President Obama can be mislead to launch a war on Iran on behalf of Israel and neocons. But, of course, such information will be suppressed.

Here we have these important people trusted with safety of our nation and lives of our kids/ soldiers in different parts of the world and they mess around with these women and all FBI and some government officials have to say is Petraeus did not do anything criminal. Maybe not, but how can you trust such a man that he might not be doing something else improper that could jeopardize lives of people.

If you can’t find anything on him, at least get a burst open condom and charge him with rape during this affair as is being done to Julian Assange of Wikileaks. This will sure give a reason to putt Petraeus’s four star butt in jail for a long time.

“…and charge him with rape…”

No shit!

And the CIA knows how. Wasn’t Assange’s accuser a CIA employee at one time?

“I no more think that Iran will attack Israel than I think I’m the Queen of the May.”

How about Israel attacking Iran?

I think/hope that that wouldn’t happen with Israel doing it on their own hook, but I wouldn’t put it past Obama to quietly sign off on it and then join in.

It’s getting legs:

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20121113/DA2H9IAO2.html

How the worm has turned. Usually the woman takes the fault, and her ruined reputation, curls up in a ball (like a cocoon), and has to wait until it’s safe for her to come out, although she’s left with nothing. In this case, they can blame her all they want, but it was Petraeus that had everything to lose, and if he couldn’t withstand the temptations of the flesh knowing he’d lose everything, then he deserves to be fully exposed and take all the punches thrown at him! Turnabout seems indeed to be fair play!