Thursday’s Mini-Report

November 2, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Just go watch Olbermann. You’ll be glad you did.

* When Dems run a web video featuring a picture of flag-draped coffins, it’s an outrage that sparked days of political controversy. When Republicans run two campaign commercials featuring a picture of flag-draped coffins, no one seems to care. Do you suppose there are different standards for the parties?

* If you missed it, the NYT had a very good editorial today: “As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign season, he’s settled into a familiar pattern of ugly behavior. Since he can’t defend the real world created by his policies and his decisions, Mr. Bush is inventing a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies.”

* Remember Ann Coulter’s voting “problem“? As it turns out, she’s refused to cooperate with a criminal investigation, and as several alert readers mentioned (including G.D., S.W., and K.Z.), her case is being turned over to prosecutors.

* I knew Andrew Sullivan wasn’t getting along well with the Bush gang anymore but I didn’t appreciate the extent to which he’s disillusioned. On CNN yesterday, Sullivan denounced the latest Bush statement in support of Rumsfeld, stating that the president is so delusional, “This is not an election anymore, it’s an intervention.” Sullivan said the president was “so in denial,” comparing the Rumsfeld endorsement to applauding the job FEMA’s Michael Brown did on Katrina: “It’s unhinged. It suggests this man has lost his mind. No one objectively could look at the way this war has been conducted, whether you were for it, as I was, or against it, and say that it has been done well. It’s a disaster…. For him to say it’s a fantastic job suggests the president has lost it, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to say it…..These people must be held accountable.”

* If Barack Obama decides to run for president, he’ll instantly be a top-tier candidate. A CNN poll shows Hillary Clinton continuing to lead the Dem field with 28% support nationally, but Obama cuts into her support and comes in a strong second with 17%. John Edwards, Al Gore, and John Kerry (D-MA) are tied for third place.

* I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I’m amazed nine former Republicans in Kansas are running for public office this year as Dems.

* Less than a month ago, Iraq hawk Ralph Peters said he’d give the war in Iraq another year, but that’s it. Now, Peters appears to have lost his patience.

* Joe Lieberman’s campaign finance controversy — remember that “slush fund”? — seems to be getting pretty interesting.

* My friend Homer alerted me to an interesting award that Bill Clinton won this week: a foundation named Clinton a recipient of an award that grants them one wish to change the world. (Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson and Time magazine photojournalist James Nachtwey also won awards)

* When CNN does two panels featuring four pundits, you’d think it’d be two from the left and two from the right. Last night, viewers found Ann Coulter, Mickey Kaus, Christopher Hitchens, and Andrew Sullivan. Balanced? Not so much.

* David Brooks thinks Iraq has “always been a bloody mess.” Now he tells us.

* Why did Army specialist Alyssa Peterson die in Iraq? The answer appears to be an American tragedy.

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

“The core problem is the same one Kedourie identified decades ago. Iraq is teetering on the edge of futility. Perhaps a competent occupation could have preserved it as a coherent entity, but now the Iraqi national identity is looking like a suicidal self-delusion.” David Brooks

When I read that this morning the first thing which came to mind was that we have found the some who say as in: Some say that Iraq’s aren’t capable of having a Democracy. Please alter Bush that it is a necon and not a liberal Democrat.

  • “I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I’m amazed nine former Republicans in Kansas are running for public office this year as Dems.

    It’s a product of the intraparty warfare between conservatives and moderates in the GOP. Apparently the conservatives are winning the struggle for the heart and soul of the party. But really there’s very little difference between a Kansas Democrat and a moderate Republican. Don’t expect Kansas to turn “blue” in any appreciable way even with these defections. It’ll still be a pretty conservative state.

    That said: I hope “Democrat” Paul Morrison kicks Attorney General Phill Kline’s soft teeth down his whining throat on Tuesday.

  • A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.

  • Yes by all means please alter Bush, but also alert him as well. Actually that typo made me chuckle out loud.

  • Bush cannot let Rummie go, because it is Rummie and Cheney who are pulling the strings of this puppet king. Bush cannot stand on his own without them holding and pulling the strings. It’s disgrace that this country is being run by these two thugs, it will be interesting to compare their net worths from 2000 and 2008. They allow 2700 men to die so they can line their pockets and the pockets of their cronies.

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  • I liked reading Ralph Peters’ novels on the new “Great Game” that is going on in Central Asia, but I went separate ways with him with his pro-Iraq stance. BUT HOW IS IT THAT an ignorant moron like me could see Iraq being a disaster in 2003 yet a 20 year Army vet with extensive travel and experience could not?

    As for Annie going to trial? I can only hope for the best (Annie in jail) even if (as one Wonkette wag put it) kills the softcore lesbian porno forever.

  • Just go watch Olbermann. You’ll be glad you did.

    Indeed I was glad when I saw it this morning. I immediately sent it out to several people. I hope millions of voters see that clip.

  • If folks in Connecticut can get a fire going under Joe Lie’s slush-fund story, it’s going to be a lo-ooooooooooong weekend for the CfL Party. This could gut him as bad as the Foley story gutted Hastert’s “House.”

    Bring Lieberman down off his pedestal, and the Senate goes Dem for sure. But, because of his “party designation” (a big fat “I” after his name), 50 Dems and a Lieberman do not necessitate a 51-seat majority….

  • * Joe Lieberman’s campaign finance controversy — remember that “slush fund”? — seems to be getting pretty interesting.

    Indeed, paying employees in cash out of the petty cash account seems to be a serious income tax issue, in addition to all of the other problems inherent in the missing money. Denying he did anything wrong is probably a poor path for Joe to take, now is the time to start scape-goating whoever came up with this idiotic idea before the IRS comes calling.

  • The NPR outlet in Arizona that reported the Peterson story has pulled it and is issuing a ‘correction’ that there’s no proof Peterson’s suicide was related to her objections to interrogation techniques at Tal Afar. Links etc. here (see updates). They’re backing off a good story; the reporter, it seems to me, reported what was in the Army investigation report, he didn’t claim there was a suicide note saying “I did this because I can’t stand torturing people.” It sure looks that way, of course, but he didn’t claim he knew that was the case.

    I think this is big and deserves some followup. I’d sure like to see that Army investigative report (already obtained under the FOIA).

  • Ralph “Peter” Peters goes on the list of arse hats who need to be dropped off in Sadr City and left for 48 hours. I’ve seen his line of “reasoning” before and it pisses me off no end. Let’s see, ShrubCo invaded a country because he wanted to, bombed the infrastructure to hell and then started snapping its talons like an evil mem sahib. “Hurry up and form a government, Gunga Din. Time to create a democracy, Gung Din. Get the voters lined up for the photo op Gunga Din!”

    And what happens when the Iraqis couldn’t meet the time table imposed by their new masters, people who wouldn’t recognize a clue if it ran up their pants leg and gnawed off their left one? Some pompous shit heel sits in his comfortable little house (with 24 hour electricity and running water and lots of food in the fridge) and types some pouty little piece about how it’s all the fault of the ignorant, ungrateful, violent brown people that Iraq isn’t another Shining City on the Hill. Of course it would never cross his tiny little mind that democracy is something people have to want and acheive for themselves, that it can’t be wrapped around a bullet or a bomb and delivered at high velocity. No, a bunch of foreigners decided (after saying you were hoarding WMD) that you were gonna be a democracy and how dare you make them look bad by failing to meet their unrealistic and unwanted expectations? Can you say “Blame the victim” boys and girls?

    So fuck him and his lost patience. When he spends most of his time sitting in the dark because the grid is down, has to wait in line for days to get a gallon of gas, when he has to tread through the wreckage of burning cars to get groceries, when he gets the front of his house blown off, when he loses several friends and relatives to sectarian violence, I might spare half a second to listen to what he has to say. Or I might just laugh in his face.

  • That’s great that John Cole from Balloon Juice and Andrew Sullivan are saying these kinds of things, but that’s it. Remember John McCain’s thing he does.

    I wouldn’t go inviting them to any dinner parties.

  • Thanks for the Olbermann link.

    I am so hoping for an accountability moment next Tuesday. I’ve almost forgotten what those look like.

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