White House officials emphasized that although the experts gave a bleak assessment, they still believe the situation in Iraq is “winnable.”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
2.
Pb
Q: Does the Iraq Study Group report mention “death squads”?
A: Yes–starting on page 6, in the Executive Summary:
The challenges in Iraq are complex. Violence is increasing in scope and lethality. It is fed by a Sunni Arab insurgency, Shiite militias and death squads, al Qaeda, and widespread criminality.
And a few times after that, which are also worth noting, even if they don’t really go into detail:
In order to more effectively administer the Iraqi Police Service, the Ministry of the Interior needs to undertake substantial reforms to purge bad elements and highlight best practices.
Best practices? Death squads bad, mmmkay?
So, yes, White House officials, ‘bleak’ indeed. Or you could have tried reading slightly past the headlines in the newspaper at some point in the last few years…
3.
Zifnab
Remember that whole Mark Foley thing? Apparently, IOKIYAR :)
Washington, DC – Earlier today, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct released its conclusion that no member of Congress or congressional staff member broke any House rule by failing to take action upon learning that former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) was making improper advances against House pages.
…
Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, stated today, “The fact that when faced with such egregious facts, the ethics committee did not find that so much as a single person acted in a manner that does not reflect creditably on the House just goes to show how utterly ineffectual the ethics committee is.”
Uh, ok. I want to report that Ann Althouse has somehow managed to trick the panel of the Weblog Awards into letting her run as a centrist. Now, would y’all pls decide to support a real centrist blog, The Moderate Voice, instead? Sadly, Balloon Juice wasn’t nominated (conspiracy! :)), so TMV is the best possible choice. http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_centrist_blog.php
Thank you!
When an ambassador suddenly resigns and leaves town, it causes me to raise an eyebrow. When that ambassador is from Saudi Arabia, I burn an extra calorie and raise them both.
Yes, his brother is ill, but it gave me pause. At least the entire embassy didn’t scamper, that’s never a good sign.
I can’t remember ever reading any liberal saying nice things about Castro, though there might have been something in the Nation a few months ago.
I know of no love for Castro among liberals; have I just not been looking in the right places? Am I just too young to remember when The New Republic and the Democratic Party said all that stuff about how much they liked Castro?
What passes for conservatism today is amoral relativism, based on knee-jerk blasts of hatred directed at imaginary liberal straw men.
9.
Dave
Only 813 days until Inauguration!
10.
srv
Wondering how our rocket scientist at the World Bank is doing?
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz faces mounting criticism from directors of the international lending organization who say he relies on a coterie of political advisers with little expertise in development while driving away seasoned managers.
Half of the bank’s 29 highest-level executives have departed since Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy Defense secretary and an architect of President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, took office in June 2005. Among them is Christiaan Poortman, vice president for the Middle East and a 30-year World Bank veteran, who left in September after resisting pressure to speed up the pace of lending and adding staff in Iraq.
11.
Zifnab
I know of no love for Castro among liberals; have I just not been looking in the right places? Am I just too young to remember when The New Republic and the Democratic Party said all that stuff about how much they liked Castro?
Castro loved Castro. I think his mother probably loved him.
Maybe that’s who all the wingnuts are refering to. Castro and his mother. It would make a bit more sense.
Castro loved Castro. I think his mother probably loved him
Bingo! Castro is so evil that only his mother could love him.
The wingnuts are jealous that they can’t even manage *that* — some of them think they’re not evil enough, and the others can’t understand why even their mothers don’t love tham.
13.
Hyperion
q. does the ISG report mention the permanent bases?
14.
Dave
I know of no love for Castro among liberals; have I just not been looking in the right places? Am I just too young to remember when The New Republic and the Democratic Party said all that stuff about how much they liked Castro?
That’s ok, I’ll take Castro over the current wing-nut idol.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) was the prime minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until 1943, when he was overthrown from power. He established a repressive fascist regime that valued nationalism, militarism, and anti-communism combined with strict censorship and state propaganda. Mussolini became a close ally of German dictator Adolf Hitler, whom he influenced. Mussolini entered World War II in June, 1940 on the side of Nazi Germany. Three years later, the Allies invaded Italy. In April 1945 Mussolini attempted to escape to German-controlled Austria, only to be captured and shot near Lake Como by Communist Resistance units.
I’m HOPING that this is some sort of sex scandal, because if its political, it means we got ANOTHER shitstorm coming…
17.
Zifnab
Whenever I hear Bush compared to Hitler, I always think the comparitor should have aimed a bit farther south. I mean, Hitler was a teatoddler, an artist, a skilled orator, and a war-time success. He conquered the better part of Europe – France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, … there was one other country that just isn’t coming to mind … – and did a great job diplomatically by keeping the Russians off his ass.
Mussilini pissed off every neighbor he could manage, then fucked up an invasion of Ethopia. Ethopia! But he was for cutting taxes. Also, not a big fan of the gays or science.
“Truly shocking news comes from Wigan, a splendid borough noted, among many other things, for hosting the annual World Pie Eating Championship. By proud tradition, contestants compete to see how many meat and potato pies they can put down in three minutes. But alas this year the organisers have bowed to the chill winds of political and digestive correctness: the garland will go to the person who can consume a single pie quickest.
“If that was not a sufficient blow to our ancient liberites, Tony Callaghan, the owner of Harry’s Bar, where the Championship is held, is offering … wait for it … a vegetarian option. ‘I realize this might be controversial,’ he said, ‘but this is the way forward for pie-eating at this level.'”
CNN Senior Anal-ist Jeff Greenfield wins the Babbling Fuckwit award:
But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…
Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or is that threads?
The sheer pettiness of making fun of the Senator’s name aside and ignoring Greenfield’s pathetic attempt to play “What not to Wear,” correct me if I’m wrong but Ahmadinejad wasn’t in power when Bush gave his Axis of Evil speech. Which means he’s no more a “Charter Member” than Maliki. Granted the guy is a fuckwit but according to Greenfield we should flee any major public figure who doesn’t wear a tie because he’s scaaaareeee. Does that mean we can shun Dr. Rice?
23.
Pb
woo.
Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does?
I think someone had too much soy this morning… And really, how far do you have to dig when you’re talking about who dresses like whom on the geopolitical stage instead of anything substantive:
Like Bush, Ahmadinejad “wears his religion on his sleeve,” according to Sick, who also noted that the president-elect apparently has never traveled outside his own country and has no personal foreign-policy experience, just as Bush had none before his 2000 election. Bush’s first public post, of course, was governor of Texas; Ahmadinejad served most recently as mayor of Tehran.
Despite their religious piety and appeal to traditional values, both men see themselves as problem-solvers and managers. While Bush has a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University and tries to run his administration on a corporate model, Ahmadinejad has a doctorate in engineering from one of Iran’s elite schools and is given high marks, even by his critics, for his management of the mayor’s office.
Their nationalism and somewhat contemptuous dismissal of the concerns of other nations also bear similarities. Just as Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming because “we will not do anything that harms our economy [and] because first things first are the people who live in America; that’s my priority,” so Ahmadinejad during the campaign suggested that Iran would not compromise on issues of national interest except on its own terms.
Wow, and all this time I thought it made me look so rugged to eat tofu.
26.
jcricket
President Bush’s approval ratings plumb historic lows. Soon it will be reported as “all-time lowest approval ratings” and “lower than even President Nixon”. All the democrats have to do is basically support anything “sensible” and let Bush and Cheney continue their obstinate asshole routine (see: reaction to the ISG report, Bolton, nomination of anti-contraception guy to HHS role, etc.) and I predict 25% or lower.
Remember that Cheney’s approval rating is already in the teens (17% last time I read).
Everyone was handing out ponies when he hit the 30s, what are we gonna hand out in the 20s? Unicorns?
Perhaps it’s just me but it seems a bit…odd that he’s worried about the size of anyone’s dick but his own. It also raises questions about research. My suggestion: If you see this creep slithering towards you with a measuring tape, run like hell.
You should all check out the Daily Howler on the Obama thing. As usual, it’s brilliant. I think Bob Sommberby is the best media critic in the world, hands down. Maybe Wolcott is close.
I agree he’s self-righteous and nitpicking. But I still think he’s the best media critic. I tend to think the Media Matters people — while very good — are a little too polemicist at times. I tend to think Bob argue in good faith to a greater extent.
Yeah, Gray, that linked Howler article was pretty big on bashing people for the sake of bashng people.
Josh Marshall didn’t deserve the scorn that Bob scrambled to heap upon him for reacing to Jeff Greenfield’s “no necktie = Ahmadinejad” comment.
The hubub over Gore’s earth tones is an order of magnitude less stupid than Greenfield’s treating Obama’s wardrobe as his own personal Rorschach Test. Marshall isn’t a high priest of anything for expressing surprise at the stupidity.
33.
Darrell
The party line at the Republican press these days is that while Pinochet might have done something sort of bad or whatever, liberals love Castro
Ah, sorry, meant to link this. And this, likely the best example. Dean Esmay wrote the same thing, too.
That’s a lot I just shoveled at you, so here’s a quote from the final link:
Right now, the Pinochet-hating left is talking about the manifest evil of the man in purely idealistic and universal terms. In other words, because it is always wrong to censor, to oppress, to torture etc. Pinochet must be condemned in absolute and unqeuivocal terms. Just listen to the Human Rights crowd for five minutes and you’ll hear how there can be no excuse for the things Pinochet did. Meanwhile, conservatives sympathetic to Pinochet (and I basically count myself among them) are making excuses to one extent or another for Pinochet because he stopped the spread of Communism in his country and allowed it to prosper. There’s a good and rich argument to be had here.
But…you know what? Fidel Castro is going to die sooner rather than later. And when that happens, you’re going to hear crickets chirping in certain quarters of the left before you hear similar denunciations of Castro, who remains more of a tyrant than Pinochet was.
This argument may (or may not) have been valid 40 years ago; it is not valid now.
Would “the Human Rights crowd” be considered to include, say, Human Rights Watch? Here’s their report, found after 5 seconds of Googling, entitled “Cuba’s Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution.”
These soft-on-state-murder-and-torture, sympathetic-for-Castro liberals, if they exist, are way, way further away from the levers and corridors of power than the soft-on-state-murder-and-torture, sympathetic-for-Pinochet conservatives.
36.
Darrell
Elvis Elvisberg Says:
Darrell—try here and here.
First, those aren’t the links you provided which you claimed demonstrated that “liberals love Castro” (your words), so you’re already scrambling to move goalposts
Second, neither of your new links suggests anywhere that conservatives are suggesting that liberals love goalposts either. If you disagree, produce the phrase with suggests it or admit that you simply made up that claim for dramatic effect.
37.
Darrell
…that liberals love Castro, not goalposts. Ha
38.
Dave
Wouldn’t you agree Darrell that Bush and Mussolini have a lot in common?
Liberals so love Castro’s Cuba, the last Great White Hope for a socialist paradise, they sometimes forget that being an anti-communist is not generally regarded as a terrorist act.
But of course the real question for the right is why do their strawman liberal caricatures love Castro so much? Obviously I can’t answer that for them, but I’m sure there’s something deep-rooted in the conservative psyche that explains it–projection of their love for Bush, Cheney, or other incompetent right-wing authoritarian figures, or their history of propping up right-wing dictators elsewhere in the world, or their current strategery of getting them elected Democratically, perhaps.
40.
Darrell
Dave Says:
Wouldn’t you agree Darrell that Bush and Mussolini have a lot in common?
Yeah man, because Bush has like shredded the constitution. We’re living under a police state right now, did you know that? If you write or say anything against Bush, you’re likely to get a knock at your door.
41.
Pb
If you write or say anything against Bush, you’re likely to get a knock at your door.
This is true, in some contexts, but then again, that has always been true to some extent or another. The real question is, how far have they gone with it? And the answer is… well, pretty far, and I’m sure anyone else who has been paying attention for the past few years can cite numerous other examples as well.
42.
TenguPhule
Darrell Says: We’re living under a police state right now, did you know that?
Damnit, the spoofers have their work cut out on this one.
43.
Zifnab
In the past 15 years, Chile’s economy has grown at twice the regional average, and its poverty rate has been halved. It’s leaving behind the developing world, where all of its neighbors remain mired. It also has a vibrant democracy.
Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labor pool, Brazil’s GDP (PPP) outweighs that of any other Latin American country, being the core economy of Mercosur.
…
According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world at Purchasing Power Parity and eleventh largest at market exchange rates. Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels.
…
Brazilian democracy was replaced by dictatorships three times — 1930–1934 and 1937–1945 under Getúlio Vargas, and 1964–1985, under a succession of generals appointed by the military. Since 1985, Brazil has been regarded as a presidential democracy, a status affirmed by a plebiscite in 1993 which asked voters to indicate a preference for a presidential or parliamentary system.
So, in the past fifteen years Brazil has also seen rapid growth and success. Logically, this must be because of Vargas and the military dictatorship?
But then how does that explain Venezula?:
GDP growth rates were 18% in 2004, 9% in 2005, and 9.6% in the first half of 2006, with the private sector growing at a 10.3% clip. From 2004 to the first half of 2006, non-petroleum sectors of the economy showed growth rates greater than 10%. Datos reports real income grew by 137% between 2003 and Q1 2006. Official poverty figures dropped by 10%.
It almost seems like the entirety of South America is going through a modernization boom that has nothing to do with the political heirarchy and everything to do with skyrocketing oil prices and expanding industry.
44.
rachel
He conquered the better part of Europe – France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, … there was one other country that just isn’t coming to mind …
Aw, you forgot Poland.
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ThymeZone
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Pb
Q: Does the Iraq Study Group report mention “death squads”?
A: Yes–starting on page 6, in the Executive Summary:
And a few times after that, which are also worth noting, even if they don’t really go into detail:
Best practices? Death squads bad, mmmkay?
So, yes, White House officials, ‘bleak’ indeed. Or you could have tried reading slightly past the headlines in the newspaper at some point in the last few years…
Zifnab
Remember that whole Mark Foley thing? Apparently, IOKIYAR :)
~linkthattasteslikebacon
*cough*BULLSHIT*cough*
Gray
“You report, you decide.”
Uh, ok. I want to report that Ann Althouse has somehow managed to trick the panel of the Weblog Awards into letting her run as a centrist. Now, would y’all pls decide to support a real centrist blog, The Moderate Voice, instead? Sadly, Balloon Juice wasn’t nominated (conspiracy! :)), so TMV is the best possible choice.
http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_centrist_blog.php
Thank you!
Jake
When an ambassador suddenly resigns and leaves town, it causes me to raise an eyebrow. When that ambassador is from Saudi Arabia, I burn an extra calorie and raise them both.
Yes, his brother is ill, but it gave me pause. At least the entire embassy didn’t scamper, that’s never a good sign.
pie
I like me!
The Liberal Avenger
Michelle Malkin commits an act of “fauxtography.”
Elvis Elvisberg
The party line at the Republican press these days is that while Pinochet might have done something sort of bad or whatever, liberals love Castro.
I can’t remember ever reading any liberal saying nice things about Castro, though there might have been something in the Nation a few months ago.
I know of no love for Castro among liberals; have I just not been looking in the right places? Am I just too young to remember when The New Republic and the Democratic Party said all that stuff about how much they liked Castro?
What passes for conservatism today is amoral relativism, based on knee-jerk blasts of hatred directed at imaginary liberal straw men.
Dave
Only 813 days until Inauguration!
srv
Wondering how our rocket scientist at the World Bank is doing?
Wolfie Screws up World Bank
Zifnab
Castro loved Castro. I think his mother probably loved him.
Maybe that’s who all the wingnuts are refering to. Castro and his mother. It would make a bit more sense.
demimondian
Bingo! Castro is so evil that only his mother could love him.
The wingnuts are jealous that they can’t even manage *that* — some of them think they’re not evil enough, and the others can’t understand why even their mothers don’t love tham.
Hyperion
q. does the ISG report mention the permanent bases?
Dave
That’s ok, I’ll take Castro over the current wing-nut idol.
Sounds sorta familiar, eh?
Wikipedia
Pb
Hyperion,
See Recommendation #22…
p.lukasiak
Well, the ambassador from Saudi Arabia has suddenly skipped town in order to spend more time with his family…
http://tinyurl.com/y34g5r
I’m HOPING that this is some sort of sex scandal, because if its political, it means we got ANOTHER shitstorm coming…
Zifnab
Whenever I hear Bush compared to Hitler, I always think the comparitor should have aimed a bit farther south. I mean, Hitler was a teatoddler, an artist, a skilled orator, and a war-time success. He conquered the better part of Europe – France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, … there was one other country that just isn’t coming to mind … – and did a great job diplomatically by keeping the Russians off his ass.
Mussilini pissed off every neighbor he could manage, then fucked up an invasion of Ethopia. Ethopia! But he was for cutting taxes. Also, not a big fan of the gays or science.
DougJ
Devil food turning our kids into homosexuals.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Mornington Crescent
This from The Guardian:
“Truly shocking news comes from Wigan, a splendid borough noted, among many other things, for hosting the annual World Pie Eating Championship. By proud tradition, contestants compete to see how many meat and potato pies they can put down in three minutes. But alas this year the organisers have bowed to the chill winds of political and digestive correctness: the garland will go to the person who can consume a single pie quickest.
“If that was not a sufficient blow to our ancient liberites, Tony Callaghan, the owner of Harry’s Bar, where the Championship is held, is offering … wait for it … a vegetarian option. ‘I realize this might be controversial,’ he said, ‘but this is the way forward for pie-eating at this level.'”
More here
Zifnab
Does that mean women who eat soy have bigger boobies?
Zombie Santa Claus
Ho… Ho… Ho… Bitches!
Jake
CNN Senior Anal-ist Jeff Greenfield wins the Babbling Fuckwit award:
The sheer pettiness of making fun of the Senator’s name aside and ignoring Greenfield’s pathetic attempt to play “What not to Wear,” correct me if I’m wrong but Ahmadinejad wasn’t in power when Bush gave his Axis of Evil speech. Which means he’s no more a “Charter Member” than Maliki. Granted the guy is a fuckwit but according to Greenfield we should flee any major public figure who doesn’t wear a tie because he’s scaaaareeee. Does that mean we can shun Dr. Rice?
Pb
woo.
I think someone had too much soy this morning… And really, how far do you have to dig when you’re talking about who dresses like whom on the geopolitical stage instead of anything substantive:
DougJ
The truth is, everyone associates that Iranian president with that light tan windbreaker he always wears, not the tieless suit.
Elvis Elvisberg
“Soy is feminizing”?!?
Wow, and all this time I thought it made me look so rugged to eat tofu.
jcricket
President Bush’s approval ratings plumb historic lows. Soon it will be reported as “all-time lowest approval ratings” and “lower than even President Nixon”. All the democrats have to do is basically support anything “sensible” and let Bush and Cheney continue their obstinate asshole routine (see: reaction to the ISG report, Bolton, nomination of anti-contraception guy to HHS role, etc.) and I predict 25% or lower.
Remember that Cheney’s approval rating is already in the teens (17% last time I read).
Everyone was handing out ponies when he hit the 30s, what are we gonna hand out in the 20s? Unicorns?
Jake
Perhaps it’s just me but it seems a bit…odd that he’s worried about the size of anyone’s dick but his own. It also raises questions about research. My suggestion: If you see this creep slithering towards you with a measuring tape, run like hell.
DougJ
You should all check out the Daily Howler on the Obama thing. As usual, it’s brilliant. I think Bob Sommberby is the best media critic in the world, hands down. Maybe Wolcott is close.
Gray
“Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…”
Now imagine the outburst in the media if they would even wear earthtones!
:D
Gray
“I think Bob Sommberby is the best media critic in the world, hands down.”
I once used to think that, too, but not anymore. Bob is too self-righteous and nitpicking for his own good. I prefer the folks at MediaMatters.
DougJ
I agree he’s self-righteous and nitpicking. But I still think he’s the best media critic. I tend to think the Media Matters people — while very good — are a little too polemicist at times. I tend to think Bob argue in good faith to a greater extent.
Elvis Elvisberg
Yeah, Gray, that linked Howler article was pretty big on bashing people for the sake of bashng people.
Josh Marshall didn’t deserve the scorn that Bob scrambled to heap upon him for reacing to Jeff Greenfield’s “no necktie = Ahmadinejad” comment.
The hubub over Gore’s earth tones is an order of magnitude less stupid than Greenfield’s treating Obama’s wardrobe as his own personal Rorschach Test. Marshall isn’t a high priest of anything for expressing surprise at the stupidity.
Darrell
The link you cite suggests no such thing.
Elvis Elvisberg
Darrell– try here and here.
Elvis Elvisberg
Ah, sorry, meant to link this. And this, likely the best example. Dean Esmay wrote the same thing, too.
That’s a lot I just shoveled at you, so here’s a quote from the final link:
This argument may (or may not) have been valid 40 years ago; it is not valid now.
Would “the Human Rights crowd” be considered to include, say, Human Rights Watch? Here’s their report, found after 5 seconds of Googling, entitled “Cuba’s Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution.”
These soft-on-state-murder-and-torture, sympathetic-for-Castro liberals, if they exist, are way, way further away from the levers and corridors of power than the soft-on-state-murder-and-torture, sympathetic-for-Pinochet conservatives.
Darrell
First, those aren’t the links you provided which you claimed demonstrated that “liberals love Castro” (your words), so you’re already scrambling to move goalposts
Second, neither of your new links suggests anywhere that conservatives are suggesting that liberals love goalposts either. If you disagree, produce the phrase with suggests it or admit that you simply made up that claim for dramatic effect.
Darrell
…that liberals love Castro, not goalposts. Ha
Dave
Wouldn’t you agree Darrell that Bush and Mussolini have a lot in common?
Pb
Let’s play name that pundit:
But of course the real question for the right is why do their strawman liberal caricatures love Castro so much? Obviously I can’t answer that for them, but I’m sure there’s something deep-rooted in the conservative psyche that explains it–projection of their love for Bush, Cheney, or other incompetent right-wing authoritarian figures, or their history of propping up right-wing dictators elsewhere in the world, or their current strategery of getting them elected Democratically, perhaps.
Darrell
Yeah man, because Bush has like shredded the constitution. We’re living under a police state right now, did you know that? If you write or say anything against Bush, you’re likely to get a knock at your door.
Pb
This is true, in some contexts, but then again, that has always been true to some extent or another. The real question is, how far have they gone with it? And the answer is… well, pretty far, and I’m sure anyone else who has been paying attention for the past few years can cite numerous other examples as well.
TenguPhule
Damnit, the spoofers have their work cut out on this one.
Zifnab
~WashingtonPost
So, in the past fifteen years Brazil has also seen rapid growth and success. Logically, this must be because of Vargas and the military dictatorship?
But then how does that explain Venezula?:
It almost seems like the entirety of South America is going through a modernization boom that has nothing to do with the political heirarchy and everything to do with skyrocketing oil prices and expanding industry.
rachel
Aw, you forgot Poland.