Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“But what about the lurkers?”

The words do not have to be perfect.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Let’s finish the job.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

This really is a full service blog.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

This blog will pay for itself.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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Archives for October 2003

Cheap Thrills

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Mark Kleiman posts the following picture of Bush shaking hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad:

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Kleiman captions this picture as “Leader of the Free World smiles at noted Jew-baiter Mahathir Mohammed.”

Most rational people, particularly those who have paid attention to Bush’s policies in the Middle East, would fail to see George Bush as an anti-semite or one who enables anti-semites. Most reasonable people would consider this to be a cheapshot, as Conrad of the Gweilo Diaries did. Rather than heap scorn on Mark, Conrad instead chose to show Mark visually why this was such a cheap and unfair accusation:

Leader of the Free World gazes soulfully at noted Jew-killer Yasser Arafat

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Conrad has several others that are just as amusing, and just as instructive to Mark why his outburst was a cheap shot and a low blow. Granted, Conrad is blogging from Hong Kong (suspiciously near Asia), and not the lofty moral enclave that is the School of Public Policy and Social Research at UCLA, so he probably lacks the perspective to understand that while Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is a scumbag, he is also the leading voice of all of Asia’s developing countries.

At any rate, Kleiman later responds, channeling Greg Easterbrook:

This seems to have struck a nerve, judging from the angry emails. But none of my correspondents specified which word in the phrase “noted Jew-baiter Mahathir Mohammed” needed to be more carefully explained. The Prime Minister’s career has relied from its beginning on whipping up hatred of Jews (despite the fact that Malaysia has no Jews). Nor did anyone explain why it was wrong to blame George W. Bush for giving such a warm greeting to such a thoroughgoing scoundrel.

First, Matt Stinson (my blogging better half), has some excellent background on Mahathir Mohammed and his importance in the region, as well as some remarks on the ‘reckless unilateralism’ of French Prime Minister Chirac, who was instrumental in blocking the UN censure of Dr. Mahathir. Dr. Kleiman must have missed that, and I would recommend that you all read both of Matt’s posts to get the full scoop (his permalinks are down, so just go to his website and search for “Holy Guilt-by-Association, Batman!” and “Sins of Omission”).

Second, since it is clear that Mark intends to be willfully obtuse, I will lay it out here in plain English:

Sometimes when you are the President of the United States and the leader of the free world, you have to deal with scummy people.

In fact, Mark, that is precisely what Conrad tried to illustrate and you either ignored or pretended to not understand. His point was that President Bill Clinton also had to deal with thoroughgoing scoundrels at times. In fact, these pictures will probably shock you:

President Bill Clinton Enjoys a Laugh With Racist Son of the South

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President Bill Clinton Passes Notes to Leader of the Impeachment Coup, Speaker Newt Gingrich

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Understand now, Mark? Sometimes you just have to deal with people you don’t like when you are President. Now go apologize, because you are better than that childish cheap shot you took at Bush. At least you used to be, according to all the great work you have done regarding drug policy.

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A Report From Iraq

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Misha links to this report justifying the invasion of Iraq written by, get this, an Iraqi! Here is a sample:

“Yes, the occupation is a blessed and promising liberation for Iraq, even if the U.N., Europe, Russia, India, and all the Arabs say otherwise. The logic of international law could be of interest to the French, the Germans, the Russians and the Arabs, who are enamored with it

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Senatorial Lunacy

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This post by Matt Stinson is so important I am copying the whole thing and pasting it here, because he is absolutely right, and this is so damn infuriating everyone should be outraged:

It’s time for a new caucus in the Senate and the House: Democrats and Republicans United on Behalf of Saddling the Iraqi People with Crippling Debt. Why? Here’s why:

Defying weeks of intense White House lobbying, a narrowly divided Senate voted last night to convert half of President Bush’s $20.3 billion Iraq rebuilding plan into a loan that would be forgiven if other donor nations write off the debt incurred by the ousted government of Saddam Hussein.

The 51 to 47 vote came an hour after the Republican-controlled House defeated a similar loan amendment, 226 to 200, setting up potentially difficult House-Senate negotiations next week as lawmakers rush to conclude a final spending plan for Iraq before an international donors conference next Thursday in Madrid.

This reckless and unilateral move — what other country in the world supports this decision, hmm? — by the Senate will doubtless alienate our allies. It also stands to anger the Iraqis themselves, who already must toil under the burden of Saddam’s debts to Russia, France, and other countries. Democrats who are likely to dance with glee after the passage of this amendment are dancing on the backs of Iraqi people. But Democrats aren’t the only villains of this piece. Lest I forget to mention it, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Republican co-sponsor of the loan amendment, is an ass for waxing populist with this quote about the legislation:

“I don’t want to give in to a great lie. You can’t buy your way out of this problem. . . . You can’t take $10 billion of taxpayer money, [while] people are losing their jobs, to buy your way out of a great lie. It would be terrible if the people of this country who have sacrificed so much wound up not getting a dime back.”

By “great lie,” Sen. Graham means the charge by the left that the war was “all about the oil.” How much do you want to bet, however, that the left will seize upon this loan as evidence that the US really is out to rape Iraq? (Wouldn’t the left do that, regardless? –ed. Yes, but that’s besides the point.) Thank you, Lindsey, for making us look like tools.

Stepping away from the name-calling, two questions come to mind in the wake of this amendment. First, where were all the debt relief lobbyists and activists while this amendment was being discussed? What, is third-world debt not third-world debt when it’s Iraqi debt? Second, if this amendment doesn’t get defeated in conference, will other countries refuse to give money to Iraq unless they, too, can get loans? Haven’t 43 Democrats and 8 Republicans effectively crippled international aid for Iraq by going this route?

Postscript: When the Iraqi government emerges and democracy is consolidated, I’m all for negotiations with the government to see if they’ll be willing to pay the US back for our investment in Iraq’s future. But I am morally opposed to forcing someone to choose between debt and anarchy, especially when we, by invading Iraq, were responsible for creating the conditions that made the anarchy possible.

Think of what all the America haters (both the ones overseas and within our borders) are going to say about this- they are going to claim this is nothing more than a racket, we occupy a country, destroy it, rebuild it, and charge them for the construction. Cute deal. Here is what Matt left out of his post:

Bush had sternly warned Congress yesterday not to convert any part of his rebuilding plan into a loan. “The administration strongly opposes efforts to convert any portion of this assistance to a loan mechanism,” the White House said in a statement. “Doing so would slow efforts to stabilize the region and to relieve pressure on our troops, raise questions about our commitment to building a democratic and self-governing Iraq, and impair our ability to encourage other nations to provide badly needed assistance without saddling Iraq with additional unsustainable debt.”

That argument won the day in the House, although 18 Republicans voted for a Democratic amendment to turn half of the reconstruction aid into a loan. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) used a parliamentary tactic to prevent a GOP loan amendment from reaching a vote, then he appealed to his colleagues’ patriotism.

“We will pay any price and bear any burden to advance the cause of human liberty,” DeLay told lawmakers. “And after the shock and awe of major combat, the price and burden of human hope shifted from the battlefield to the town hall and the town market. And that hope cannot come in the form of a promissory note.”

Bush, the dummy, and DeLay, the evil Nazi, making more sense than any of the asshats that voted to saddle a nation that does not even really exist with 10 billion in debt. Jackasses. I wish I could express how angry this makes me, and I can guarantee you that Matt Stinson is angrier. BTW- If you thought Senatorial grandstanding was limited to the camera, check out the number of amendments offered to this bill.

And if you guys aren’t ready Matt’s Fearful Symmetry every day, you are missing out.

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