Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Gastritis Broke My Calculator

This is a big f—–g deal.

It’s a tarp!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity.

The Math Demands It!

Mission Accomplished!

Naturally gregarious and alpha

We have all the best words.

We Survived Breitbartpocalypse!

Yes we did.

This is how realignments happen…

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot

Technically true, but collectively nonsense.

We can agree to disagree, but I’m right.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!

An army of rabid, anonymous commenters

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Lighten up, Francis.

Word salad with all caps

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Consistently wrong since 2002

I can see Russia from this blog!

This Blog Goes to 11…

Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

Miller Time

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Via DailyPundit, this short Time.com interview with Dennis Miller:

Explain how the war in Iraq makes sense to you as a response to 9/11.

Like there’s no chance that the secular state of Iraq and Islamic fundamentalists cohabitate? They both think we’re Satan. How about that as a nice point of departure for them car-pooling? I wish there was a country called al-Qaedia that we could have invaded, but there wasn’t. (Saddam was) the only one who had a home address.

A lot of California Republicans want you to run for Senate. Will you?

At some point that involves moving to Washington, D.C., sitting in a room all day with a moron like Barbara Boxer. I’m just not interested. I like open minds, and I think in Washington right now, we might as well start painting those people red and blue.

Heh.

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Dean’s Speech

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I guess I am not the only one to realize that Dean’s speech yesterday was breathtaking in its simplicity and naivete. In short, it was like a poly-sci undergrad gathered all the anti-Bush unilateralism diatribes and co-mingled them with some of the isolationist and ‘peace at all costs’ rhetoric of the loony left, and then disguised it all as an appeal international ‘cooperation.’

Howard Dean declared on Monday that “the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer,” provoking an avalanche of new attacks from rivals who have seized on Sunday’s surprise news as a way of redrawing the foreign policy debate in the Democratic presidential campaign…

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who supported the war, spent a second day in row hammering Dr. Dean on the Iraq issue, and scheduled a speech for Tuesday in New Hampshire to highlight their differences on national security.

“If he truly believes the capture of this evil man has not made America safer, then Howard Dean has put himself in his own spider hole of denial,” Mr. Lieberman said. “I fear that the American people will wonder if they will be safer with him as president.”

Mr. Edwards, in his first major speech on foreign policy in months, said that while Mr. Hussein’s capture “did not end the danger in Iraq,” it had “kicked the door wide open for all of us to hope that sooner and not later democracy will thrive for the Iraqi people.” He called on the administration to include the international community in rebuilding Iraq and in trying Mr. Hussein.”

Dean and his supporters are living in some parallel universe- that much is clear. This statement from his speech is just a gem:

Let me be clear: My position on the war has not changed.

Which is why you are entirely unelectable. Standing on principle is great, but it helps if you are right, and it also helps if your principle does not appear to be a construction based upon political calculus. Gephardt said it best:

“We can’t beat George Bush by playing politics with foreign policy,” Mr. Gephardt told reporters in a campaign swing in Ecorse, Mich. “We’ve got to stand up for what we think is right. That’s what I’ve always done and that’s what I’ll always do.”

In a rational Democratic party, Lieberman and Gephardt would be the only candidates getting any attention. The Democrats are not rational, however, and as I have predicted for the last year, Dean is still their favorite. The Democratic party needs to get rid of McAullife, spend a year or two soul-searching, take some anger management classes, and pull themselves together. They have simply lost it- and with another southern Democrat retiring from the Senate, the executive branch is the only branch they have a remote chance of recapturing in the next 6 years.

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And The Spin Begins

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Seems someone agrees with Kofi Annan that Saddam should be tried in an ‘International Court:’

Saddam Hussein’s family wants the former leader to be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal set up by the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council, one of his daughters said Tuesday.

Raghad Saddam Hussein said her father appeared sedated in footage released Sunday by the U.S.-led occupation authority after his capture near his home town of Tikrit.

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Should Have Seen This Coming

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I guess now that Saddam is in captivity, I should have seen this coming. The NY Times gives seom front p[age web coverage to yet another pop psychology voyage in the “Bush and his daddy vs. the evil Hussein.”

They have a team of monkeys working at the Times? Jeebus. Good thing Krugman is on vacation- I am not sure how the hell he would have spun Saddam’s capture as bad for the economy.

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Poor Underfunded Democrats

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Those poor underfunded Democrats, now that they have led the charge in protecting incumbents and silencing critics with CFR, are now leading the charge in soliciting international funds to further their cause.

Frustrated with the lack of domestic support, left-leaning website MoveOn.org has apparently been reaching beyond American borders to generate cash revenue over the internet!

The provocative international fundraising strategy threatens to embroil the presidential candidacies of General Wesley Clark and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.

Both men are named on international fundraising websites suggesting donations to MoveOn.org.

Meanwhile, MoveOn.org, which has been running ads critical of the Bush Administration, has named an “International Campaigns Director,” the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

It is not clear how much money has been raised — to date– from foreign sources, but political websites from London to Portugal to Montreal are directing their citizens to stop the American president George Bush by donating to MoveOn.org!

Wesley Clark’s official campaign website has been offering a link to “Canada For Clark”, which in turn advises Canadians: “Non-Americans can’t by law, give money to any particular candidate’s campaign. But we can support pro-democracy, progressive American organizations like MoveOn.org, which do their best to spread the ugly truth about Bush and publicize the Democratic message. Click here to donate to MoveOn.org.”

The top traffic referrer to CanadaForClark.com is Clark’s Official Campaign Website.

Cute. I guess with Clinton out of office, the Chinese money dried up. At any rate, it appears the Swedes are a non-player at this time.

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Sometimes I Wonder

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Sometimes I really think the NY Times views the United States as a rogue nation:

And it is critical that the dictator be given a fair and open trial to exact justice for his crimes, to give some solace to the people he terrorized and to give pause to other despots. The trial must be above any suspicion that it is merely an exercise in retribution or propaganda. While every effort should be made to maximize Iraqi involvement, Iraq’s judicial institutions are too weak to handle the case. Although last week’s creation of an Iraqi war crimes tribunal was a promising step, we would suggest this trial be conducted in Iraq under United Nations auspices by international and Iraqi judges. A tribunal picked by Americans would lack legitimacy.

If were up to me, he would be tied, standing up, in the back of a flatbed truck, driven through all the heavily populated Shia areas of Iraq, and then delivered to the Kurds.

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The Saddam Aftermath

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Jesse comments on the post-Saddam aftermath:

Long-Term Impacts Of The Capture

1.) The terrorist/Iraqi insurgency: Now, we’ll find out whether they’re fighting for a Saddam Restoration or against American occupation. While I certainly hope it’s the former (and that a speedy trial of Saddam set up over the next couple of weeks where his various horrific crimes are read in front of him, and he’s summarily locked up and interrogated lawfully until he dies), I fear that it’s much more the latter.

I think in the short run, we will see two results. First, the so-called ‘dead-enders,’ those Ba’athists and Saddam loyalists, will probably step up their efforts to create chaos, so I would not be surprised to see a small uptick in the frequency and ferocity of incidents. That should taper off, in very little time.

Second, the people are now no longer going to be afraid. Before, when they talked about Saddam, reporters frequently noted that there was still a sense of fear because Saddam was at large. That is gone, and I expect Iraqi’s will help the coalition more, and begin to quickly turn against the foregin jihadis/insurgents.

Third, the manner in which Saddam was captured, without even putting up a fight, might mute resistance. The emperor has no clothes.

2.) The hunt for WMD: Given the extent to which Saddam was apparently deluded about his own WMD program, I highly doubt he’s going to have any useful information.

I sure hope Jesse is wrong. I believe that WMD was one of many reasons justifying this war, and I have been horribly upset with our inability to turn up WMD. I believe it may be the greatest intelligence failure of my lifetime. I want to know where the WMD are, if there were any.

3.) The reconstruction: Its progress depends in large part on the insurgency. If there’s still one next year, the capture of Saddam, while a huge morale boost, if there’s still an anti-American (rather than pro-Saddam) opposition effort, we’re talking about the tip of the iceberg rather than the base.

I expect an international coalition will be involved with a large-scale reconstruction effort within 6 months.

4.) The PNAC plan: As we can see from Bush’s stance on Taiwan upsetting the “one China” balance, our ability to democratically remake the world through war isn’t going to work the way Bush or the neocons have planned. It’s going to be at least a year and a half in Iraq (provided the power transfer goes as planned in July, which I doubt) – these adventures, regardless of how ultimately successful or justified you believe them to be, are harder and take longer than those in charge plan for. It’s simply not a coherent or tenable policy in the long term.

Not sure what to make of this statement, as it is based on a bunch of ‘ifs.’ The one ‘if’ remains- ‘if’ power is turned over to a reformed Iraq in a timely period (1-3 years), as far as I am concerned, the PNAC crew was right.

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Last Samurai

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I saw the Last Samurai yesterday. It was ok- I didn’t feel like my money had been wasted when it was over. I guess you can call that a movie review. Probably should have seen Master and Commander.

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We Got the Bastard

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“We got him:”

American military officials confirmed today that Saddam Hussein had been captured alive in Tikrit on Saturday night.

They confirmed that it was him based on DNA evidence.

In Baghdad, huge crowds celebrated in the streets with gunfire.

The most emotional aspect was watching the Middle Eastern reporters reaction during the announcement. The other members of the press started taking pictures of them.

14cnd-huss2184.jpg

L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, was greeted by cheers today upon announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The Washington Post has more:

The capture of Hussein has been a high priority for U.S. forces since last spring’s invasion, but the former Iraqi leader had proven elusive despite a $25 million reward that the Bush administration offered for information that led to him.

U.S. authorities had received numerous tips about possible hiding places for Hussein and suspect they were close to nabbing him on a few occasions. Hussein’s two sons, Uday and Qusay, were found in July in a house in Tikrit and died in a firefight with U.S. troops.

From his hideouts, Hussein continued to taunt U.S. authorities, issuing periodic audio tapes urging resistance to the American-led occupation. To spearhead the search for him, the Pentagon established a group of Special Operations forces known as Task Force 121. In recent months, U.S. forces have focused on hunting down mid-level former Iraqi officers and mid-ranking onetime Baath Party operatives in hopes they could provide intelligence that might lead to Hussein.

That would be the same Task Force 121 that Seymour Hersh had written this alarmist piece about in the New Yorker. Hersh’s next book should be “How to be Wrong About Everything All the Time.”

How are Democrats going to spin this as an administration failure? My guess is the “But where is Osama catcalls will begin.”

*** Update ***

Atrios’s only remark is to title a link to the story as ‘Something Right.’ The first comment underneath that post is: “Now if only someone would come and capture our ‘leader.'”

I am not exagerating when I say the members of the Atrios ‘moderate’ left have lost their collective minds.

*** Update #2 ***

The Command Post is on the Saddam Capture like ugly on an ape.

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Thanks

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I got back from the office today and at my doorstep was a box from Amazon chock full of goodies that someone had purchased for me from my Amazon Wish List. A BIG thanks to George Kelly for the brand spanking new copies of Civil Disobedience and Other Essays and The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History.

Thanks a bunch, and I will keep them right here with my other reference books (after I re-read them, of course).

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This IS Wrong

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This is wrong. No, it isn’t wrong, it is sick.

Misha, there is over-the-top-rhetoric, and then there is what is going on at your site. It is one thing to say Kucinich is sick for using that commercial- I said so myself. It is also perfectly acceptable to state that the author of that flash animation is twisted and evil- any mind that works like that and thinks the deaths of our soldiers is an acceptable form of propaganda in a domestic political campaign is, in my mind, sick and evil. It is perfectly acceptable to point out that out, and I have no problem with anyone stating as much.

I do, however, have a problem when you step over the line as you have done here. Read your own words, the words you directed at the author of the flash animation:

Here’s a hint to you, ****: The gov’t can’t do anything to you over that ad, but that’s the extent of your protection under the First Amendment.

The rest of us, however, aren’t the gov’t, in case you’ve forgotten, and quite few of us would be more than happy to wipe that nervous little grin off your traitorous mug – with a belt sander.

Not saying anything in specific, mind you, but we’d be damn careful about showing our face in public if we were you. You just never know who that perfect stranger behind you in that alleyway might be. Could be a sibling or other relative of one of the fallen soldiers that you just took a dump on the grave of, and G-d only knows what might happen then.

Eric may not be famous enough to be a pick for the 2004 Dead Pool, but there’s another signed Imperial Mug for the first LC to inform me that Eric Blumrich has died in a “tragic” accident.

Accidents DO happen, you know, and that’s the kind of news that would definitely make my entire day.

That is a threat, and it is sickening. This is not the voice of reasonable debate. This is no disagreement over policy or issues of he day. This is an out and out threat, no different from the rhetoric that comes from the KKK or the parasites at the Vanguard News Network.

Accidents happen? A reward for information regarding a person’s untimely demise?

Add to that the publication of the personal information (and I give nary a rat’s ass whether it is publicly available) as well as a map to the guy’s house? While the author of the flash animation and Kucinich are capitalizing on our war dead, they are clearly not advocating or anticipating the death of anyone else. Call Kucinich whatever you want- when you start to write things like this and let your commenters say the things they have said in that thread, and it is time for a long look in the mirror.

This is the same sort of tactic that those sick bastards in the anti-abortion movement used to intimidate and bully abortion providers. Publish pictures of them, their routines, their addresses, and when some sick son of a bitch like that swine Paul Hill murdered one, they crossed their name off the list. How can you possibly even dismiss that this is not a threat?

This is the tactic of intimidation, calling on the elimination of political opponents. It is frightening. It IS fascistic. This is the brownshirt mentality. It is evil, wrong, unconscionable, unethical, immoral, and most of all, it is downright twisted.

People have long pestered me to de-link you, but I have always let you have a long leash, because I figured your over-the-top rhetoric was just that- rhetoric. This, however, reads like a call to action, and I can not and will not condone it. Could you live with yourself if one of your readers did murder this man in a ‘tragic accident?’ Would you really be able to glibly state that you had no part in his demise? Be honest with yourself.

Until you remove that post and permanently ban all those who posted this man’s private information, issue an apology to the individual who you have threatened, and seriously re-evaluate the harm your rhetoric could cause, consider our relationship terminated. If this post reflects your real sentiments, and your ideal approach to politics, you are not the person I thought you were. This post was disturbing in its audicity, frightening in its implications, a horrible misuse of free speech, and most of all, it was Un-American.

*** Update ***

Whoever is responsible for threatening BlackFive is a real treat, too.

Furthermore, I don’t want this comments thread to devolve into a bash Misha-a-thon. That was not the point of this post at all. I wrote it because it frightened me, and I don’t think Misha really understands how far over the line he went and how dangerous and irresponsible that post was.

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