God, Iraq again?

The Washington Post has many, many bad columnists. Jackson Diehl often gets overlooked among the Krauthammers, Samuelsons, Gersons, Wills and Kagans, but he’s still very, very bad:

During the years when Iraq was at the center of U.S. foreign policy, pundits and policymakers would regularly and prematurely proclaim that the following six months would be crucial to the war’s outcome. Now, at last, that forecast is warranted: The next six months in Iraq could decide whether the country emerges as a democracy friendly to the United States, a cleric-dominated satellite of Iran or a cauldron of sectarian conflict — and whether Barack Obama can pull off the “responsible withdrawal” he has promised.

How odd, then, that Iraq — where the United States has invested $700 billion and the lives of more than 4,300 soldiers over the past seven years — is no longer a top priority for the White House, the State Department or nearly anyone in Congress.

God, we’ve spent $700 billion on Iraq. We’ve spent $700 billion bailing out the damn banks. That’s $1.4 trillion (!!!!!!!!) thrown right down the crapper. Anyone serious about government waste would have to conclude that those two projects were some of the most wasteful in American history.

As for the rest — look, dude, I just don’t care about Iraq right now. We’ve got 10% unemployment and a government that is wholly owned and run by the clowns on Wall Street. These are things we need to fix before we double down on ill-considered military occupations. I’m all for setting up a refugee program to help Iraqis move to the U.S. if their situation spirals downward again, but we can’t just occupy the place forever. At some point you have to acknowledge sunk costs and move the hell on.

Two Americans who understand how big the stakes are — U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill and top commander Gen. Raymond Odierno — were in Washington last week to explain. Iraq’s March 7 election and what follows it, Hill said, will “determine the future of Iraq . . . and also the future of the U.S. relationship with Iraq.”

Said Odierno: “We have an opportunity in Iraq today that we might never get again in our lifetimes . . . to develop a democratic Iraq that has a long-term partnership with the United States.”

Compare that with Obama’s account of Iraq in his State of the Union address: “We are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. . . . We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August.” That pledge means that even while Iraq passes through this crucial turning point, U.S. forces will be reduced from 98,000 now to 50,000 on Sept. 1.

Yuh-huh.

The thing is, we’ve been hearing this since, oh, I don’t know, forever. Whenever we start to pull troops out of Iraq — in this case so they can be transferred to fight yet another Village-approved war — we hear cries that we can’t leave just yet or we’ll be killing Iraqi democracy in its infancy. This has happened over and over and over and over again, as Diehl himself acknowledges with his reference to Friedman Units. But this “Boy-Who-Cried-Whiskey-Freedom-Sexy!” routine has gotten extremely old by now and mostly people are just sick of seeing lives and money wasted on this colossally stupid imperial adventure.

Obama went on to say that the United States would support the elections and would “continue to partner with the Iraqi people.” But it’s hard to escape the impression that a president who built his campaign on opposition to the war still undervalues Iraq’s enormous strategic importance and the dangers embedded in its political transition.

Hill, in a news briefing, and Odierno, in an appearance at the Institute for the Study of War, pointed out some of them. According to Hill, if the contracts Iraq recently signed with international oil companies go well, Iraq will become an oil producer on a par with Saudi Arabia. The survival of Iraq’s democratic system, Odierno said, could have a far-reaching impact on regimes across the Middle East. “Some of them,” he added, “don’t really want the democratic process to succeed because of the pressure it might put on their own government.”

Oh yes. This one again.

I remember way back in 2005 when the Iraqis’ Purple Finger Revolution was going to mark the death of dictatorships in the Middle East and lead to scores of grateful Arabs holding hands and dancing in the streets singing “Bush Was Right!” But oh yeah, oops. Didn’t happen. In fact, the most sustained rebellion against an Islamic government in recent years has been the inspiring Green Movement in Iran, which just happened to start after Bush left office. And what’s more, they’ve been able to sustain it even though we didn’t bomb them. Amazing!

First among these is Iran, which has a simple strategy for the coming months: Turn the elections into a bitter sectarian battle — and thereby ensure that the next government will be led by its hard-line Shiite allies.

To an alarming extent, the campaign is succeeding. Tehran’s leading agent, as both Hill and Odierno noted, is Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite who in 2002 played a major role in persuading the Bush administration to go to war. Now he has managed to have hundreds of candidates eliminated from the election on the mostly bogus grounds that they were or are loyalists of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.

So wait. Wuh-wuh-wait.

We now have to stay indefinitely in Iraq in order to thwart the guy who convinced us to occupy Iraq in the first place? This brings new meaning to “clusterfuck,” people. We might as well rename everyone in the United States military “K” and send them on a serious of vague, ill-defined missions in Eastern European villages where their objectives are wholly revised by soulless bureaucrats on a daily basis and where they are constantly thwarted by their failures to properly fill out confusing paperwork. I don’t think it could be any crazier than asking them to put their lives on the line just to stop Ahmed Chalabi.

Chalabi aims to become prime minister of the next government, which would be a disaster for Iraq and for Washington.

The kicker will be if Chalabi does get elected prime minister and Diehl then says we have to remain in the country to prevent him from getting weapons of mass destruction. Only then will the circle be complete!

If the administration can see Iraq through the next six months successfully, it will record an achievement whose long-term importance is unlikely to be matched by anything else it does abroad. If it does not — then Washington will awaken to an Iraq that once again has become an endless nightmare.

We will only stop our endless nightmare by further prolonging it! Hail to the next 100 Years’ War!


Above: The Iraq War, minus the blood and treasure.

 

Comments: 96

 
 
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain
 

Wait a second, so “we’ve all heard that the next six months is crucial… but this time it is”. He just states this, with no justification?

No, I’m not getting out of the boat to check. But it’s amazing he even bothers to acknowledge the trope, and then spends so little effort justifying it.

Pretty lazy lampshade hanging, if you ask me.

 
 

Proof again, that enough is, in fact, never enough. Let’s just see if the whole “go to war or die from a chem weapon attack” strategy will work this time. I’m not optimistic that it will fail.

 
 

Wasn’t Chalapi’s appointment as Iraqi prime minister one of the hoped-for outcomes of the invasion?

Mission almost accomplished, bitchez!

 
 

Wasn’t Chalapi’s appointment as Iraqi prime minister one of the hoped-for outcomes of the invasion?

It was. And now it’s the outcome that Corporal K. must die to prevent!

 
 

note to self – must obtain prescription drugs to stop voices in my head that keep on saying DEMOCRACY MEANS LEAVING OTHER NATIONS THE FUCK ALONE TO GET RID OF THEIR OWN GODDAMNED DICTATORS AND DETERMINE THEIR OWN DESTINIES

it’s those glowing green snakes, captain – they’re following me…

 
 

I just don’t care about Iraq right now. We’ve got 10% unemployment and a government that is wholly owned and run by the clowns on Wall Street.

Ah, but Brad, HE has 100% employment so HE can afford to warn us!

 
 

This isn’t too far from the topic at hand.. I just got this mass email from my old man:

Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News. He is an M.D. and a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.

Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post..

The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.

If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.

Summary of his comments:

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism.. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!

5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state’s rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it’s under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it’s between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it’s far too late.

Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children’s futures depend on our good understanding of what is really going on in DC, and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!! Start with educating your friends and neighbors!!!

 
 

Wasn’t Chalapi’s appointment as Iraqi prime minister one of the hoped-for outcomes of the invasion?

Yes, but we’ve been ordered to drop the Chalapi.

Yo quiero Taco Bell.

 
 

He is …paralyzed from the neck down.

Some of us believe the opposite.

 
 

Sorry for the giant posting… i’m just really really mad, angry, confused, and a little hungry, that I am getting this from someone I’m related to.

 
 

I love the fact that they have to put this up front: He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views.

 
 

How odd, then, that Iraq — where the United States has invested $700 billion and the lives of more than 4,300 soldiers over the past seven years — is no longer a top priority for the White House, the State Department or nearly anyone in Congress.

How much did the Civil War cost? It’s almost like the pages of the calendar continue to turn, and past losses don’t always make something today’s top priority. How odd.

 
 

Never mind all those other hack columnists…I’m absolutely dead certain this time I’ve got it right.

 
 

The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

365 to 173 is close??

 
 

A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer… What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st.

Hee hee! An email from a guy whose friend heard another guy, TOTALLY FIRST HAND!

 
 

He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views.

Oh. Well, ok. I’ll just remember this instead of listening the w o r d s coming out dat fool’s mouth.

Isn’t that like prefacing a nasty insult with “No offense, but…”?

 
 

Take note, people. If the unemployment rate is under 8%, the first thing that comes out of his mouth is not “The economy will be better”, or “the American people will be able to feed their families again”, but “THE DAMN PINKOS WILL GET POLITICAL POINTS OMFGGGGGGG”.

Gah. The pure soulless ambition of these people pisses me the fuck off. Fuck you, Charlie, and may you one day be in the streets begging for food.

 
 

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism.. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

Yes, because when you say “nation crushed under the iron heel of Socialism”, Canada and Britain are the ones that naturally come to mind.

Cripes. What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

 
 

I love the fact that they have to put this up front: He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views.

At least Chuckles is not as fear monger-y and extremist-y as his Fox colleagues.

 
 

He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views

Oh, well shit. All along I was thinking that listening to the w o r d s that come out dat fool’s mouth are the criteria by which to judge his views…

Reminds me of my former wife, who liked to say “no offense, but (Insert something patently offensive here)”.

Sometimes I wish I were a wingnut. I would be almost as cool as being an Oscar Mayer Weiner, but much cooler than being a pepper.

 
 

Krauthammer knows fuck-all about capitalism.

 
 

What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

Poutine.

 
 

One’s default setting regarding viral anti-Obama e-mails should be: complete bullshit. Especially one over seven months old.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/krauthammer.asp

 
 

At least Chuckles is not as fear monger-y and extremist-y as his Fox colleagues.

That’s like saying John Gotti was not as much a mobster as his more drug-dealing friends.

 
 

Heh. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning

 
 

Institute for the Study of War

That’s such an awesome name.

“Here at the Institute, we have studied war and have determined that it is profitable for corporations, neocons, wingnut welfare recipients, and other non-living things.”

 
 

Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future.

Heh, heh, he said “boning”

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome.

Totally unrelated to GOP rule, I suppose.

BTW, wars that are “grinding on indefinitely without clear outcomes” are features of neocon policy, not bugs.

 
 

What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

It doesn’t fight enough wars to keep Krauthammer happy.

 
 

That’s like saying John Gotti was not as much a mobster as his more drug-dealing friends.

Which is pretty much the point I was trying to make.

 
 

One’s default setting regarding viral anti-Obama e-mails should be: complete bullshit. Especially one over seven months old.

His denial is close to a non-denial. He says it is inaccurate and not authoritative…no one who takes notes will ever be 100% accurate and since it’s clear the transcriber did interpret what he was hearing, authoritative is also shot.

But note that he doesn’t necessarily dispute the underlying sentiments of the piece, instead challenging the reader to read his columns.

In other words, he focused on words he would never use, but never says “I don’t believe that about Obama.”

 
 

I love the fact that they have to put this up front: He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views

Oh, well crap. All this time I thought the words coming out dat fool’s mouf were the criteria by which to judge his views. Thanks, chain mail, for setting me straight.

That statement reminds me of my ex-wife, who liked to say “No offense, but (Insert inflammatory, offensive statement here)”.

 
 

Jackson Diehl feels free to completely make shit up and insert words not existent in original documents in order to that the then-altered documents support whatever hawk foreign policy propaganda he wants to push.

He’s a cheap liar. He isn’t just a hawk. He’s a fraud.

 
 

Institute for the Study of War

Committee meetings might be interesting.

 
 

heh. Even Krautie disclaims the speech in his huffy way (per the Snopes link).

I remember last year (in January or February), my sister sent me a mass-email-forward that advised me to mail a tea bag to the White House. This was before the Obama admin. had even proposed a budget for 2010 yet, much less when anyone’s taxes had been raised one iota.

I suggested that the Prez would not get the tea bags and that they would be discarded like so much garbage. I also asked her why she wasn’t upset when Bush spent us into depression with two wars and the Medicare Part D plan (unfunded), among a host of other sins.

Where were these fiscal conservatives then? It’s the question to be begged every time someone from the “right” makes these claims.

 
 

Anyone remember the hagiography of Chalabi on the PNAC website back when those dumb peckers were rooting for the invasion? The picture of Chalabi sitting behind Laura Bush as Dumbyah gave his SOTU address?

Now the Neocons insist we were always at war with Chalabi.

 
 

I love the fact that they have to put this up front: He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views.

But then he goes on to try to scare the shit out of everyone with his extremist rhetoric. Nice.

My favorite out-of-context portion:

Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning

Where does he think Trig and her other progeny came from? Sheesh.

 
 

Where does he think Trig and her other progeny came from?

Those were folling around bonings, not particularly serious ones.

 
 

You should attach the sadly, no Krauthammer picture to the email and resend it out, mixing up the original items with stuff like “Mr. Krauthammer stated that Obama’s inferior gene quality has left him seething with quiet rage towards his more fortunate human bretheren, and he hopes to bring down the white race by leading them off a cliff. His goal is nothing less than destroying America so that 3rd world nations, such as his birth-nation Kenya, can fill the power vaccum”

Granted, these people will ignore the hyperbole and believe every word, but at least you had fun with it.

 
 

Also re Krauthammer, “the loyal resistance?” Against the popularly elected leadership of the country, and using unconstitutional means? Loyal to what, then?

 
 

What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

Well, we like totally kicked their asses in hickey, so NYAH NYAH NYAH!

 
 

Make that “hockey” (hick!)

 
 

we like totally kicked their asses in hickey

Interest!

Website? Newsletter?

 
 

shorter krautbender: america has been tricked into electing somebody with a devious agenda of fixing things and helping people. this must be stopped!!!

 
 

More of the Washington Post‘s unsigned editorials making shit up.

 
 

and here i thought we were competing in the
hokey-pokey… would have accounted for all the veiled penis references…

 
 

Holy crap–sorry for the triple post, everyone

 
 

We’ve spent $700 billion bailing out the damn banks.

Actually, we haven’t. The total amount actually deployed under TARP (as of the SIGTARP report last month) was $500 billion. $85 billion of that amount is related to the auto and auto finance sectors, not the banking sector. Another $170 billion has been repaid (of which only $3 billion was related to the auto sector). There was another $17 billion of income on TARP investments. The most you could say we’ve spent “bailing out the damn banks” is $232 billion (and of that amount, much of it was not strictly for “bailing out” financial institutions–for example, $35.5 billion is related to the Making Home Affordable program.)

And of course, just like $170 billion has already been repaid, a large portion of that remaining $232 billion will eventually be repaid as well.

 
 

OT:

How could I have not known this? Sarah named the kid for the disorder

Srsly, Down syndrome (trisomy 21, trisomy G)… Trisomy G. (Just in case anyone else here is as much an idiot as I)

Now that’s some WTfucketyfuckingF!

 
 

PeeJ, I refuse to accept that that woman knows enough about biology to choose the name for that reason. It’s gotta be short for Trigger or something.

 
 

And of course, just like $170 billion has already been repaid, a large portion of that remaining $232 billion will eventually be repaid as well.

Well, all of the money we spent in Iraq will be repaid with oil revenues. Mr. Wolfowitz said so.

 
 

Well, all of the money we spent in Iraq will be repaid with oil revenues. Mr. Wolfowitz said so.

Getting. difficult. to. hold. breath.

Yup, aaaaaany day now.

 
 

“And of course, just like $170 billion has already been repaid, a large portion of that remaining $232 billion will eventually be repaid as well.”

On the other hand, the TARP money doesn’t include the $trillions of crap the Fed has taken onto its books to keep the markets afloat and the banks running.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

The Iraq situation could be turned around overnight if the U.S. DoD would just call in the awesome might of “The Cherokee”.

 
 

Nyah I dunno – the doctor probably explained it all, using charts and pictures with words and arrows and stuff. “It’s called Trisomy 21, or Trisomy G…” I have no doubt she’s sick sick enough in the haid to do it. Given her using him regularly as a prop, y’know?

 
 

The Washington Post has many, many bad columnists. Jackson Diehl often gets overlooked among the Krauthammers, Samuelsons, Gersons, Wills and Kagans — and the Kristols, Theissens, Cohens, Broders, Ignatiuses, Parkers, Hogalands, Hiatts, Milbankses…Actually, this makes a uberhack like Diehl one of the best columnists at the WaPo.

And one of the “best” columnists at the WaPo wrote this, 8 YEARS INTO THE WAR without any sense of irony:

Now, at last, that forecast is warranted: The next six months in Iraq could decide whether the country emerges as a democracy friendly to the United States, a cleric-dominated satellite of Iran or a cauldron of sectarian conflict…

Sure, he mentioned that others had said it earlier, but, of course, this passage could have literally been lifted from ANY of those “6-month” columns verbatim. It almost certainly WILL be a cleric-dominated satellite of Iran — hundreds have said this in these comment threads for years — and/or become a cauldron of sectarian conflict. These outcomes are the most obvious things in the world for an adult to grasp — unless, of course, the game is to stay there forever and then eventually get bled to death by Iraqi sectarians who seek to liberate their country from the yoke of Imperial oppression a decade or two down the road. Which will lead to a civil war anyway.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

Cripes. What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

Clamato and Vodka

As a disclaimer, I’ve never tried one… and I’d probably like it. Any implicit Canada-bashing is all in the name of good, clean fun… eh?

 
 

It’s weird that a president might enjoy having the power that comes with office. I thought all these guys (and gals) were just in it for the free pass to the Senate gym.

You know what else is weird? That some of these folks running to practically lead the world might have egos. Because when I think about who might run for the highest office, the first people who spring to mind are those with low self-esteem.

*facepalm*

 
 

On the other hand, the TARP money doesn’t include the $trillions of crap the Fed has taken onto its books to keep the markets afloat and the banks running.

Unless you regard U.S. government credit as “crap,” then you are overstating the situation here. Of the $2.3 trillion of assets on the Fed’s balance sheet, $777 billion are U.S. Treasury securities, $166 billion are other Federal agency debt securities, and $1 trillion are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, which carry implicit or explicit government guarantees. No doubt the Fed has taken some “crap” onto its balance sheet, but it is not “$trillions” worth.

I’m not disagreeing with Brad’s point about Iraq, but when people throw around numbers like $700 billion, they should have some idea what they’re talking about.

 
Quaker in a Basement
 

So wait. What is it he wants now? Another invasion of the country we already own?

 
 

@Dave — $700 billion was just the cost of the original bailout bill that was rammed through Congress. I know the Fed has done a lot more on this front. I used the $700 billion as a convenient figure to demonstrate the enormity of the…

Oh Christ, guys, can you please not be so careful in fact-checking a stinking comedy blog?

 
 

Can we call it a “Diehl Unit” nao?

 
 

So wait. What is it he wants now? Another invasion of the country we already own?

Nah, just keeping the troops we have there already another decade or so, while also staying in Afghanistan for “as long as it takes” to do whatever the fuck it is we’re trying to do there…

Of course, Mr. Diehl probably thinks that an invasion of Iran and/or Pakistan might be a good thing also too, I mean, we’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fuck things up even more in those countries so we can’t let that opportunity pass…

 
 

Oh Christ, guys, can you please not be so careful in fact-checking a stinking comedy blog?

I have informed Retracto the Correction Alpaca about this post and he is coming down the hill at this very moment…

 
 

Oh Christ, guys, can you please not be so careful in fact-checking a stinking comedy blog?

Apparently the answer is “sadly, no…”

:-p

 
 

@Dave — $700 billion was just the cost of the original bailout bill that was rammed through Congress. I know the Fed has done a lot more on this front. I used the $700 billion as a convenient figure to demonstrate the enormity of the…

Fair enough, but $700 billion wasn’t the “cost” of the original bill, which was my point, nor is the full $700 billion being used towards the banking sector. If the actual number is less than $232 billion, using $700 billion as a “convenient shorthand” doesn’t make sense. I’m sensitive to this because I see similar misuse of numbers when conservatives criticize Obama over the stimulus or the size of the deficit.

Oh Christ, guys, can you please not be so careful in fact-checking a stinking comedy blog?

Brad, I’m not a regular reader, so if your posts are just intended as comedy, I’ll refrain from commenting; however, I thought you made a pretty good substantive point on Iraq.

 
 

Wait, Iraq has cost $700 billion? But that war was supposed to be free! And they would welcome us with flowers and throw shoes and everything.
Gosh, has it really been only 7 years? Fun times, people, fun times.

 
 

We broke it, we own it, & now it’s sitting the garage, attic or basement, ’cause it’s fucking broken & what the hell are we supposed to do w/ it now?

 
 

If the whole point of the Great War On Terror is to prevent a repeat of the whole flying planes into buildings thing, shouldn’t we go to war with the Republic of Texas?

 
 

According to Hill, if the contracts Iraq recently signed with international oil companies go well, Iraq will become an oil producer on a par with Saudi Arabia.

Methinks Mr. Diehl has a very obvious Tell here. It is not now, nor has it ever been, to secure democracy for Iraq or to put a stop to the magic weapons of mass destruction or to fight the terrists.

The grand, unifiying objective, has always been to ensure that Iraq could produce lotsa oil.

With the less clearly stated objective no. 2: perpetual occupation of Iraq to further enrich war profiteers.

I don’t understand why Blackwater, KBR, Northrup-Grumman, and Exxon Mobil don’t just merge. They can even name themselves Miltary-Industrial Complex, Inc.

 
Not actually Air Chief Marshal Sir Graham Eric "Jock" Stirrup GCB, AFC, FRAeS, RAF
 

Ummmm, the Correction Alpaca has no jurisdiction up in here. This is Pete the Pedantry Panther’s beat. Always has been, always will be. Thus the nitpicking over a measly $468 billion.

 
 

Cripes. What’s so fucking bad about being like Canada?

Celine Dion is the Marlene Dietrich of Liberal Fascism.

 
 

5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run.

I’m sure everyone here knows it already, but this is one of those silly claims that you often see circulated that is simply not true. Just one example–the guy in charge of TARP, Herb Allison, is the former CEO of TIAA-CREF, one of the largest pension/retirement fund managers in the world. Before that, he was President of Merrill Lynch. He was also the guy that the Bush Administration brough in to run Fannie Mae after it was seized by the government. In other words, the guy directly in charge of the financial and auto sector bailouts has a lot of experience running very large companies.

And poutine rocks.

 
 

Esteev said, at February 22, 2010 at 23:10

This isn’t too far from the topic at hand.. I just got this mass email from my old man:

No offense (and I mean that in all seriousness) but you can think someone is a complete fucking idiot, yet still love them. In this case, you may want to consider that option. (And that from someone who applies this to his sister, but not due to politics.

As far as the topic at hand, this is typical wingnut fare: Say today the exact opposite of what you said yesterday, secure in the knowledge no one “important” will ever notice or, if they do, won’t do anything about it.

Hell, these clowns make entire careers out doing just that.

So, yeah, no shock.

Oh, and PENISBLARTALSOTOO!

 
 

One fucking day, Brad.
This sentence is the best I have read in years:

“The kicker will be if Chalabi does get elected prime minister and Diehl then says we have to remain in the country to prevent him from getting weapons of mass destruction. Only then will the circle be complete!”

And it is one day too late to nominate it for the Top Quark.

Guess I’ll have to nominate Berube (I don’t do diacriticals).

C

 
 

After the Bush/Cheney/Neo-Con invasion of Iraq in 2003, Ahmad Chalabi sold out U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iraq by leaking to the Iranians that U.S. intelligence agencies had broken Iranian communication codes and the U.S. was monitoring activities/communications of Iranians/Hezbollah agents in Iraq.

Chalabi’s offices in Baghdad were raided by U.S. forces. Evidence was found indicating Chalabi was an Iranian agent, relaying information about U.S. forces back to Tehran, endangering not only U.S. soldiers but the Iraqi citizens they were trying to protect.

But the Neo-Cons in the Bush/Cheney administration, who wanted Chalabi to replace Saddam Hussein after the invasion, stepped up for Chalabi, didn’t have him arrested, didn’t have him thrown into Abu Ghraib, or have him shipped in chains back to the U.S.. Instead, Chalabi was given charge over one of Iraq’s ministries, out of which he began running right-wing death squads and established secret “black site” detention and torture centers.

And now Chalabi is trying to derail any attempt to establish an Iraqi democracy in his continuing effort to establish Iraq as an Iranian satellite state.

Ooooh, THAT Ahmad Chalabi !!!

 
 

Committee meetings might be interesting.

Why? There will be no fighting in the committee room, because, well, Peter Sellers said so.

 
 

You may choose a ready guide in some celestial voice…

 
 

Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite who in 2002 played a major role in persuading the Bush administration to go to war.

Lies, tell me sweet little lies!

And ‘persuaded” is a bit over the top don’t you think?

An invasion was a done deal by 2002, Chalabi was the whole basis of the, “Look! They WANT us to invade!” talking point…

 
 

As a disclaimer, I’ve never tried one… and I’d probably like it. Any implicit Canada-bashing is all in the name of good, clean fun… eh?

Looks absolutely god awful, fishy tastes and alcohol should not go…..

As for Canada bashing, the Canucks have been getting all worked up over the last week or so about British press articles about how shit the Olympics have been. Sensitive, no?

 
 

Any implicit Canada-bashing is all in the name of good, clean fun… eh?

Canada makes Poland look intellectual.

 
 

Canada is so dumb, Don Rickles took one look at it and said “Even I can’t be that cruel”

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

And ‘persuaded” is a bit over the top don’t you think?

An invasion was a done deal by 2002, Chalabi was the whole basis of the, “Look! They WANT us to invade!” talking point…

He was their “beard”.

 
 

Agree with Poicephalus. This–

“The kicker will be if Chalabi does get elected prime minister and Diehl then says we have to remain in the country to prevent him from getting weapons of mass destruction. Only then will the circle be complete!”

–is Robin Hood splitting his own arrow. Well done, sir.

NB that, as usual, in the “Krauthammer summary,” the ardent, concerned writer (who heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy) somehow omits all of Chuckles’ extensive history of wrongness.

These people don’t give a fuck about what’s true. They just want to FEEL something.

 
 

How come when you refer to the Village all I can think is The Prisoner? Remind a guy, what are you referring to if not that?

 
 

Mark D — I agree that you can love someone and think they are a complete moron. The weird thing is, my pops hated Bush, voted for Obama and is relatively liberal; except fiscally. Sadly, he doesn’t read critically. He sees something and takes it at face value.. which is really, really dumb and I tell him that and then he sends me to my room (totes j/k). I’ve even caught him watching Glenn Beck. I ask him what he sees in Beck and my dad says, “he makes good points.” “Like what?” I ask and he can’t give me an answer. When I tell him that all Beck does is foster fear and stupidity, emotions not solutions he tells me I don’t know anything because I’m only in my late 20s, no wife, child, house, et al. When I say that that isn’t the issue, he starts to get loud and I tune him out because it’s like arguing with a barking dog.

But what I see from people his age is that they don’t know what they want. They want the place fixed but don’t want “any more of my money used.” One could assume that they thought marching into multiple Muslim nations was to be paid for in dirt, not cold hard cash. Now, after 8 years of the Bush fiasco, the revisionist rhetoric of the right is starting to take hold. Serious People like my dad may think that Obama is trying to change this country — which is exactly what needs to happen but “they” think it’s for the worse. This scares me to the point of needing a change of pants.

 
 

Canada makes Poland look intellectual.

Good to see actor doing the trolling as opposed to being victimized by it.

 
 

Good to see actor doing the trolling as opposed to being victimized by it.

I try to practice the other side as often as possible to work on my timing.

 
 

esteev, oh no, I think I went to school with your dad.

“…But what I see from people his age is that they don’t know what they want. They want the place fixed but don’t want ‘any more of my money used.’….”

OMG, maybe I went to school with him, but I dropped out and ruined everything, because I don’t have any money. But don’t any of y’all count me out, because I am still remarkably sturdy and am willing to beg, borrow, or steal the ingredients for torches ‘n’ pitchforks.

I really am old, huh. I still believe in torches and pitchforks. Hell, throw in some killer unicorns, and I’m done.

 
 

I don’t have any money.

Me either! That’s why I want socialism and marxism and communism and aspheterism and animism and cosmism and dualism and lots of fatalism!

+FYWP

 
 

“But what I see from people his age is that they don’t know what they want. They want the place fixed but don’t want “any more of my money used.””

Then use the money of the rich. You know, raise taxes back to the maximum-90% bracket they were in the 1950s (you know, during the greatest sustained economic boom in American history) and finally, finally, at long last, have the sons of bitches pay their fair share again to the society that made them what they are.

As far as your dad goes, at least he seems to take in stuff from liberals as well as people like Glenn Beck. Better than the “moderate conservatives” I’ve met who will literally think their way through to a liberal conclusion, find out that it’s a liberal conclusion, then have their brain hit RESET and start blabbering whatever the party line is. (I’ve seen conservatives argue “well there had to be a stimulus but not THAT KIND,” and then proceed to outline “their” version of the stimulus only to find out that it’s exactly what Obama actually did).

 
 

But what I see from people his age is that they don’t know what they want.

Goddamn — that’s a perfect way to put it.

My old man has actually gone the opposite direction of your dad — he’s become more liberal as time has gone on (at least in some areas). We’re talking a guy who spent years listening to Rush and O’Reilly, but who now thinks there should be a $50 million limit on personal worth, with the rest going to the government!

For him, it was two things: 1.) the birth of my son [the only grandchild he’ll ever have]; 2.) his retirement going in the shitter when the economy he did.

Unlike your pops, however, he started to read a TON of stuff from all kinds of places after the implosion and, being the MENSA member he is (and I mean that in all seriousness), put it all together.

He feels bad that the economic policies he supported led to the crash, and at least sees his need to return to work as payment for that mistake.

And that’s what many people want: Someone to blame. Far too often, though, they refuse to admit it was their guy and instead go after someone — anyone — as long as the story seems (for them) to make even the slightest bit of sense.

All we can do is our part to set them straight … but only if they want to be.

 
 

I ask him what he sees in Beck and my dad says, “he makes good points.” “Like what?” I ask and he can’t give me an answer.

Like the well-meaning idiots waiting to have Palin sign their book. They cheerily, and with a secret smile, burble about how “great” she is, but ask them one single substantive question–e.g., “What do you mean by ‘common sense’ as it applies to being President?”–and they all flustered like a school girl, or throw cliches back in your face as though a) you’ve never heard them before and, b) they mean something.

In other words, these people are full of emotion. Fine. Who can blame them. But all the Becks and Palins offer is validation of the emotion, and not ways to solve the problems that cause the emotions. But validation is enough for them. It’s the wingnut version of liberals swooning to Clinton when he said, “I feel your pain.” But Clinton at least was/is intelligent and sophisticated and enlightened.

 
 

In other words, these people are full of emotion.

This is what our political squawk box has been reduced to: Emotion.

I, for one, can’t think clearly when I’m PO’d, say at the moran who cut me off, imagine being like that all the time at everyone?! What a useless existence… except to those who can manipulate you like a muppet.

 
 

“Invested”?

I thought investments were designed to promote growth and economic activity.

I’m not sure how blowing shit up qualifies.

And, once again, if we’d invested that in health care, I wouldn’t be holding my balls every day praying we don’t lose our retirement and our house and our credit and our future to the foolish decision to get cancer while having insurance.

 
 

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