Steve, I agree w/your premise that Repubs. have lost their edge over Dems. on nat'l. security, but I think the corollary is that this has happened through default, not by any positive action on the part of Democrats. Poll after poll shows that Americans are fed up w/Iraq and want out. I dare anyone here to name more than 10 Democratic Reps. and Senators who have signed on to Murtha's plan. (Lamont & Tester don't count.)
Great post; just wishing our 'leaders' in Washington had a little more in the intestinal fortitude dept.
Pointing out Cheney's lies is getting to be like remarking that shitty smell in the nursery must be Junior's dirty diaper. Duh.
Posted by steve duncan at May 30, 2006 10:17 AMThis comes at a time when the NATO forces in Afghanistan were deployed in peacekeeping missions, not to refight battles that Bush walked away from years ago, and those countries are reconsidering their role in Afghanistan.
Canada of course is reconsidering its role, in terms of getting more gung ho about being soldiers for the Empire. Hopefully before long this descent in the clutches of Right Wingnut and boy-King George wannabe Stephen "I'll do what I want, no matter how Parliament votes" Harper will soon be an unpleasant but almost forgotten memory. If he gets re-elected with his coveted majority, which will require keeping the lips of his caucus sealed and hiding his real agenda from the Canadian voters it will be truly a sad day for Canada and the world.
I came to Canada to get away from the same kinda jingoistic, fundie, science doubting, war-mongering, intolerant racist assholes that are now trying to remake Canada in the image of that rapidly failing state the United States of Hate and Greed.
Posted by theExile at May 30, 2006 10:28 AMSteve - you are not seeing the big picture. bush is creating a police state here and the dems are going along with it. just look at the 25 dem senators that voted for Hayden. what a disgrace. bush's war FOR terror and war on our constitution has succeeded. we are no longer a democracy. the dems have supported bush all along and now we have a militarized police state. elections means nothing at this point.
Posted by jj at May 30, 2006 10:58 AMHoly cow, Steve. Excellent journalism!
But...the chimporer recently said things are going along swimmingly well in Iraq. How can I believe your multitude of links and fine analysis compared to what the idiot son of an asshole and his administration says? Gotcha there!
The lunatics are running the asylum. Foreign policy crafted over most of a century has been scuttled. The wealthy have a large vacuum cleaner sucking the wealth out of America. Civil rights are eroding. Propaganda fills the MSM. Education is becoming gentrified. The WTO and IMF are crippling small countries. The forces of hatred and xenophobia are on the march in the U.S.S.A. The christian dominionists and reconstructionists are forcing policy in Washington. Just another day. I'm still hoping a neo-con calls me a traitor or unpatriotic to my face. But the odds of even this happening are growing rather slim. They have the dawning realization that they were just engaging in the Freudian defense mechanism of Projection.
I would rather have a guy who got a blowjob running this show than a guy who blows it all.
Posted by phidipides at May 30, 2006 11:16 AMYou said: Bush... sets fire to things...
Perfect! Bush, the arsonist... the burning bush...
Posted by anon at May 30, 2006 12:32 PMThat's 853 Coalition deaths since Cheney barked his last throes pronouncement. 809 of those US military deaths.
At least 11,140 Iraq deaths have been reported.
The good news is that the neo-cons have finally recognized bush for the loser he is. And they recognize that control of at least one of the Houses of Congress is likely to go to Democrats in November (assuming there will be an election and not martial law - and that's a pretty big assumption IMO).
The bad news is that they're simply adapting their strategy. Robert Kagan outlines how they'll try to influence the DLC wing of the Democratic party.
These people are like the Borg. Luckily, we're not in a Star Trek television script and resistance IS NOT futile.
Posted by Jim Faith at May 30, 2006 02:12 PMSteve, another excellent post. You've been on a run lately. Funny, I've never liked the Nero metaphor that others use but simply saying Bush sets things on fire and expects others to clean things up sounds more plausible and right on to me.
I read the articles by Pletka and Fukuyama. The neoconservatives are busy salvaging their careers. Intelligent and thoughtful people can make mistakes but Pletka and Fukuyama seem unable to acknowledge some rather major lapses in their judgment. The model, of course, is Paul Wolfowitz, who has had a habit throughtout his career of sticking his finger up in the air to see which way the prevailing winds were blowing on the Republican side of the aisle and adjusting his political thoughts accordingly.
But moderates and liberals need to be careful. My theme for five years now has been that everybody needs to raise their game. That still holds true. The presumptive frontrunner for Democrats in 2008 is Hillary Clinton and I am not impressed; I see no signs that she understands what we're facing.
I don't expect much from Republicans in the next 30 months but at the very least they ought to at least take away Bush's box of matches. Maybe the midterm elections will persuade them.
Posted by Craig at May 30, 2006 02:19 PMDidn't Bush put a bunch of AEI rejects in charge of the Iraq rebuiling plan there on the ground?
(Instead of State Department personnel with years of experience in these exact areas.)
Posted by Flamethrower at May 30, 2006 02:32 PMThe neo-cons are willing to blame the administration for "poor execution", but not willing to admit that their dreams of empire are faulty.
If anything expect that they will say that the problem was that the wars were not pursued aggressively enough and that the military is still underfunded.
Reaganites claimed that he brought down the USSR by forcing them into a bankrupting arms race with the US. It will be the ultimate irony when we finishing gutting our infrastructure in favor of militarism and end up comitting economic suicide.
..and that the Left undermined morale and "stabbed the troops in the back." If these fucks ever held themselves accountable for their monumental hubris, self-serving jingoism, and terminal greed, it would cause serious flucuations in the magnetic field.
Posted by jondee at May 30, 2006 04:02 PMThey won't hold themselves to any kind of accountability jondee. The "stab in the back" mantra will be repeated this fall as the middle east continues to fall apart. I include the whole middle east because I fear that the war that is now limited to Iraq and Afghanistan will not be so limited by then.
Posted by herbal tee at May 30, 2006 05:13 PMIsn't it about time for us to focus all of our attention on A.E.I.? They're everywhere. They seeded the P.N.A.C.
[with the same address]. They pushed theI.N.C.
They populated the Administration with Bolton, Cheney, Rumsfield, Wolfowitz, Feith, Libby, etc. Ledeen's there. Mylroie's there. Newt's there. Jeb's there.It's the shadow cabinet. Now they're gearing up to press their Staussian Agenda even after the disasterous Bush/Cheney debacle. We're spending all this time blogging about the operatives, and not acknowledging that this has been an A.E.I. Coup! and one they have every intention of continuing...
Posted by Mickey at May 30, 2006 08:22 PM