Mr. Pierce is on vacation this week, so he’s got some excellent substitutes contributing at Esquire‘s Politics Blog. Michael Maiello alerts us that it’s not only the Republican warpigs we need to worry about:
In the years leading up to the invasion of Iraq, noted Democratic hawk Kenneth M. Pollack played an instrumental role in building bipartisan support for George W. Bush’s war of choice. Today, as a Senior Fellow at Brookings, Pollack takes a look back at what went wrong and makes some recommendations about what the U.S. can do to stop Iraq from sliding back into civil war now that President Obama has brought the occupation to a close.
What stands out most in his survey, though, are not his specific policy proposals but the forlorn paragraph where he fantasizes about what he’d like to do if only pesky politics weren’t in the way:
“In an alternative universe, the United States might re-intervene in Iraq, redeploying tens of thousands of soldiers to restore everyone’s sense of safety and allowing the political process to heal again. In this universe, the United States is never going to intervene in Iraq again, nor will the Maliki government ever request that we do so.”
A decade has passed since Pollack’s pre-war advocacy and all Pollack really wants is another run at the cradle of civilization. But don’t worry, he assures us, nobody with any say in the matter will go there….
srv
I can’t really think of an ethical reason why this guy should be using up any oxygen on this planet.
Keith P.
In an alternate universe, I would be omnipotent and could crush people like Kenneth Pollack with the power of my miiiiiind-ind-ind!.
PsiFighter37
Fuck, I am pissed off at my work colleagues. There was some reporting numbers we needed to put together, and my boss was speaking with the guy who sits next to me (a couple years more senior than myself) about it all in a file. I let them know I had training at 5 PM, so I hopped for 1:15. Fully expecting to get out of work early so I could go burn some sweat on a run, I instead come back and find that my boss dumped the work on me, and that she and my other colleague had dinner with one of our clients (that I also cover, but conveniently happened not to get a look at) and would be available via Blackberry after 8:30.
And then I realized all the files I was sent were totally useless, so I had to manually find all the numbers myself. So I get home at 8 PM instead, sun is basically set in NYC. God fucking dammit.
Pf37 +massive angry protein intake
gbear
Maybe he should go over there for some first hand research. Remind him that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
the Conster
He forgot to say “and everyone gets a pony!”
Omnes Omnibus
Are you suggesting that the current administration is going to buy in on this? Obama didn’t buy it when it was fresh. Why would he buy it now?
Hill Dweller
It’s impossible to lose credibility in the Beltway while consistently advocating right-wing policy.
NotMax
Couple of kind of nice pictures found online of the incredible lightning we had yesterday, the second one taken roughly at or just after sunset.
#1 – #2
dmsilev
Had dinner with a knight yesterday; that’s a first for me (senior and distinguished scientist from Britain whom our department had invited to come give a colloquium).
michelle
@PsiFighter37: I took one day off to have minor surgery, only to return and find out my boss and supposed co-coordinator had decided I could teach 8 classes per day for a week — because I would only have 2 for a couple of weeks. Assholes.
Litlebritdifrnt
I have no idea why Imani hasn’t posted this but you must read this Goldie Taylor piece. It is powerful.
http://thegrio.com/2013/07/30/don-lemon-and-the-rage-of-a-privileged-class/
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Of course not, but I’m sure we can expect EventheLiberal NYTimes to note that President Obama totally should pay attention to this putz, and then Lindsay Graham will clutch his pearls on all the Sunday shows. Why talk about the deliberate destruction of America’s middle class when “we” can clamor for another bite at the Shock’n’AweShucks poison apple?
lojasmo
Watching Fringe season one, which I never saw. I love this show.
lojasmo+3 glasses of white wine.
PsiFighter37
@michelle: It’s just annoying, because it proves a few things in my mind that I’ve been thinking for a while: 1) my boss still is way too hands-off and doesn’t have a good handle on what exactly I know, 2) the other guy is lazy as shit and is coasting on a reputation he built a long time ago, and 3) I can do all this shit on my own and don’t really need them.
Unfortunately, there’s not really an easy way to express my feelings, which is to say that I can do my job (and on occasion, some portions of their job) better than they can. I’m just annoyed because I have been absolutely slammed as shit, and the guy next to me spends so much goddamn time dicking around.
Mike in NC
President Rick Perry would have reoccupied Iraq, with the blessing of Secretary of State Krauthammer and Secretary of Defense McCain.
Just Some Fuckhead
In an alternative universe, the United States might deploy Kenneth Pollack in the nose cone of a missile aimed directly at the sun in order to restore everyone’s sense of safety and allowing the political process to heal again. In this universe, Kenneth Pollack will get a raise and command larger speaking fees.
Eric
More Luther tonight. Season 2
lamh36
Alrighty X-MEN fans, the next X-Men First Class movie is gonna be epic!!! Not one, but 2 Xavier (young and old) but 2 Magnetos (young and old), Kitty Pryde, Wolverine and mutha-fruckin’ SENTINELS!!!! Can’t wait for this! This is a “commercial” for TRASK industries. This shit look like a REAL commercial!!!
http://youtu.be/92YBR9gEyYI
here’s the thing too…check out the website for TRASK industries! It’s a LIVE website, like it’s a real company…lol
http://www.trask-industries.com/#/genetics
I loved old Magneto (Sir Ian), but damn if I don’t lust after young Magneto…Ooh boy I love me some Michael Fassbender, even if he do haveshark teeth…lol
Cassidy
@Litlebritdifrnt: Because Imani gets treated like shit when she posts here.
ETA: OBAMA IS TEH SUX! THE MARTIN FAMILY IS GRIFTERS! RAPE ISN’T REALLY RAPE! LITTLE KIDS LURVE THE SEX FROM OLDER MEN!….Did I do it right?
Calming Influence
“In an alternative universe, the United States might re-intervene in Iraq, redeploying tens of thousands of
soldierschildren of politicians who were originally for the war to restore everyone’s sense of safety and allowing the political process to heal again.”Improved that for ya, Kenneth.
lamh36
@lojasmo: Fringe was my fav sci-fi show on FOX since X-Files. I loved it. I darn near cried at the final episode of the series
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cassidy:
Yeah I forgot that bit, you are absolutely right.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cassidy:
Oh please. One or two asshats spin her up and then the rest of you go nuts and trash the place.
Calming Influence
@dmsilev: Was he wearing armor and riding a mighty steed? Cuz that would be awesome! (Like if I was Paul Krugman, I would walk around all day wearing a laurel wreath on my head.)
Mnemosyne
Kids, never leave any money behind when you die, because it will fuck up the rest of your family. I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with my brother the estate trustee, another 30 minutes on the phone with my brother the caretaker (of my mom). When I get home, I get to have a long, tearful conversation with my mom and then call my brother the trustee to tell him he completely fucked up and the rest of the family is refusing to come to my dad’s memorial this weekend.
Yes, that’s right, I’M the peacemaker and voice of reason in this situation. Me. You can all stop laughing now.
lojasmo
@PsiFighter37:
Welcome to my world. It is especially frustrating when you are supposed to be doing you best to care for SICK and VULNERABLE patients.
Lazy and incompetent people suck.
Cue my stalker.
dmsilev
@Calming Influence: Sadly no; just a polite (and interesting to talk to) older gentleman wearing a suit. No sword either.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mnemosyne:
If the rest of the family is anything like you, they’ll just argue and fight for the sake of arguing and fighting, money be damned.
michelle
@PsiFighter37: Your points match my problems very closely. My boss hasn’t been in the classroom for years (though she is a great teacher), so she has forgotten how much work it is. My co-coordinator turns into her mini-me when it means he won’t have to do more. Those same two weeks, we had multiple people out. My co-coordinator wouldn’t cover a single hour. I finally just came right out and said he should. Then he whined that I hadn’t given him a chance to.
It took me years to get to the point to where I could say something, and it still takes me a few days to finally say it, after all these years.
Sigh. They will both retire in 3 to 4 years, so at least I have that.
Calming Influence
@dmsilev: That’s really a shame. It’s clear that the Brits have managed to take all the fun out of Knighthood.
Petorado
What’s a few thousand more lives if it fulfills a a think tankers dream? … And Kenneth, what’s the dream we’d be fighting for exactly?
PsiFighter37
@michelle: I am in finance and am relatively junior to everyone else (I started 4 days before Lehman blew up…talk about getting on the train right before the station went up in flames), and they’ve never rehired to the levels of the past – so I still have to do a lot of the shoveling. So I can only daydream about running the show…and because I’m the most junior, I have to watch what I say. I ordinarily like my job, but behavior like this just infuriates the shit out of me.
Goddammit. I really wanted to eat Chipotle, drink a couple, and kick back, but I go on vacation in 10 days with a half-marathon coming up a few weeks after – so I need to keep myself in some semblance of health, even when I don’t get my workout in…so I settled for 2 pieces of turkey sausage, a turkey burger (no bun), and a protein shake. I think what I crave right now is chocolate chip fucking cookie dough ice cream, but I feel like I could buy a pint and house it in 5 minutes.
michelle
@Just Some Fuckhead: That’s not what I remember. I’m sure you and Anne Laurie don’t want me to link to that thread again.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: He might have had a light saber tucked away somewhere.
Chris
According to the one Iraqi I actually spoke to about this, there was no sense of safety for the Iraqis – they saw the U.S. military as just another militia getting in on the killing, albeit bigger and better armed, not a force for security. Which I can well believe.
Calming Influence
@michelle: 3 or 4 years is still along time. Let us know if you want them killed before then.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Mnemosyne:
I have learned over 20 years of being a paralegal to never, ever, ever, die with money in the bank or any assets whatsoever, because it will immediately cleave your family into factions who want “their share”. I intend to die with no assets, as I age I am going to mortgage everything I own to the hilt so that the only people who get stiffed are the banks.
Just Some Fuckhead
@michelle: I don’t care what you link to and I’d be surprised if Anne Laurie cares.
kc
Isn’t Pollack the “cakewalk” dude?
Gex
The universe in which us doing the same things we did the last time leads to different results is on the other end of a wormhole. War is chaos. Violence is chaos. It is very difficult to throw chaos at a chaotic situation and achieve calm.
dmsilev
@Omnes Omnibus: A fair point. We didn’t happen to run across any Imperial Stormtroopers at dinner, so I honestly couldn’t say one way or the other.
The Other Chuck
@Chris: If you were in the Oil Ministry’s building, then the US protected you just fine. Everyone else had to fend for themselves.
Yatsuno
@PsiFighter37:
I highly encourage this behaviour.
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: Or you could have a clear estate plan and make sure people know your intentions. That has seemed to work in my family.
michelle
@PsiFighter37: I love my job; it’s just the bullshit that gets to me. I hear you on your outside work priorities. My boss and co-coordinator did that to me just after my surgery. I just said “thanks guys” in my head and went on.
It’s infuriating, but hang in there. You are younger than I was (I think) when I started, so who knows, maybe we’ll see you on the Snooze Hour with Paul Solman or his replacement someday!
michelle
@Just Some Fuckhead: I was just pointing out that there are many of us who have a different memory of the time Imani was posting here regularly. You can choose to forget, as can Anne Laurie. I can choose to remind.
SiubhanDuinne
I just pledged a hundred bucks, and lord only knows how much of my time to volunteer for Michelle Nunn’s Senate campaign in Georgia. I’m remembering not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. MN has a fantastic political pedigree (that’s important in the South), is very well-connected through all her work with Hands On Atlanta and Points of Light, and I think can easily win the Dem primary next year. The general, I don’t know — a lot depends on who the GOP ends up choosing for their candidate — but considering that the choices include Paul Broun and Karen Handel inter alia, I think she has a decent chance. Anyhow, I’m in. Will report back when t here’s something to report.
mapaghimagsik
In this alternate universe, do all have mustaches?
PsiFighter37
@Yatsuno: I was referring to a pint of ice cream, of which I have no doubt is much worse than a pint of beer in terms of nutritional content. I think it’s at times like this I wish I still had the metabolism of a growing kid; I ate so much junk food back then and didn’t really ever come close to being ‘overweight’, although I wasn’t really in much shape. I eat one bad thing now and I feel like I gained a couple pounds instantly.
@michelle: Yeah, just gotta keep plugging along. Or maybe I’ll win the lotto tomorrow and tell everyone to go fuck off. One can dream, right?
lojasmo
@lamh36:
I LOVED X files, but I feel that Fringe is much more engaging, probably because of the interpersonal and family angles.
michelle
@Calming Influence: No need, but thanks. I could change my mind.
PsiFighter37
@SiubhanDuinne: I feel like Georgia is one of those states that needs a little bit more of a push and it would be a true swing state. If Romney only beat Obama by 8% (granted, better than McCain did in 2008, but not by as much as some other states), the right kind of Democrat must have a shot. Maybe we just need more white liberals in the metro Atlanta area?
Omnes Omnibus
@mapaghimagsik: Tom Friedman doesn’t. Nor does Geraldo.
currants
@NotMax: wow–great photos, especially the sunset one! My friend had been in Honolulu yesterday and came back home through the storm (to Hilo). She said it was a little rough over Maui, but… “Those Hawaii pilots!”
Litlebritdifrnt
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sure you could. Still doesn’t stop pissed off siblings contesting the will, power of attorney and clear instructions for a child who has cared for a parent for ten years in their own home, wanting to know where ten years worth of retirement and social security payments went because of course it costs nothing to care for an aging parent every day. Trust me I have seen it, wanting to collect “their share” of ten years worth of retirement and social security payments because their sibling was supposed to take care of their parent for nothing, for ten years.
SiubhanDuinne
@PsiFighter37: Yes, I’ve thought that for a while. It hasn’t been all that long since GA turned GOP, it shouldn’t take that long to turn it back, especially with the batshit crazy stuff coming out of the Pubs.
Michelle Nunn, as I think I implied, is far more conservative/moderate than I am, but she is a very decent person and would represent Georgia well in the US Senate. I will work for her with enthusiasm, and if that helps move the state a notch or two closer to the Blue column in 2016, well, that’s gravy.
Calming Influence
@michelle: No problem. Also, keep in mind that we could just take out one of them, which might help motivate the other in a positive direction. Your call.
Just Some Fuckhead
@michelle: That’s perfectly acceptable to me. I don’t mind others being wrong.
Anne Laurie
@michelle: Oh, FFS, show some respect for the woman. Imani didn’t “stop” posting here because I was meeeaaan to her — she’s got a couple different paying gigs now, and they keep her busy. She doesn’t even post that often on her own blog right now, and I suspect she’d be less than thrilled at the idea that I could scare her away from this one.
Burnspbesq
For a guy who’s allegedly on vacation, Pierce certainly managed to spew out a super-size stoopidburger re the Manning verdict.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
Yes, but the Iraqi you talked to isn’t invited to the right kind of cocktail party in Georgetown, so his opinion is obviously much less important than Pollack’s.
Burnspbesq
Wake me up when Pollock has some influence.
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: And what percentage of estates end up like that? I would guess that it is very few. I’ll bet that most are settled with little trouble.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Keep us in the loop!
Chris
@Roger Moore:
Actually, it was a her, so the opinion is even less valid than you thought.
Roger Moore
@Litlebritdifrnt:
It’s possible that being a paralegal has skewed your perceptions, since people who handle their inheritance like grownups either never visit your office or pass quickly through. My family managed to handle my grandmother’s passing with a fair amount of grace, even though she was loaded. I expect my siblings to handle my parents eventual passing with equal good grace.
Baud
I’ve always been kind of sad that I missed out on Vietnam. Maybe Pollack can help with that too!
handsmile
@kc:
“Cakewalk” was the now-notorious phrase penned by Kenneth Adelman, a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board in the first term of the Cheney/Bush regime.
From Adelman’s Wiki entry:
“Adelman wrote a pair of editorial columns regarding the Iraq War in the Washington Post in February 2002 and April 2003 entitled, respectively, “Cakewalk In Iraq”[5] and “‘Cakewalk’ Revisited”.[6] In the first he argued that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq would be a simple matter to accomplish: “I believe that demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk.” In the later editorial, published just a few weeks after the invasion, he claimed his vindication and in particular praised key Bush administration players: ‘My confidence 14 months ago sprang from having worked for Don Rumsfeld three times — knowing he would fashion a most creative and detailed war plan — and from knowing Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz well for many years.'”
Try to read this without smashing something inanimate.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: I chipped in the moment she announced.
raven
@Baud: It’s still there.
Eric U.
Pollack apparently didn’t notice that our version of security was to build walls and then set up checkpoints and kill everyone in the cars when they didn’t notice that they were approaching a checkpoint. I don’t think the Iraqis have some exotic sort of sense of security that is enhanced by being shot full of holes. Our military just isn’t built for policing. We shoot things up
Baud
@raven:
But we’re not!
raven
@Baud: Oh yea we are.
Chuck is from Athens and has lived there for 20 years or more.
http://vfp-vn.ning.com/profile/CharlesMathesSearcy
SatanicPanic
@lamh36: Really looking forward to that one. I liked XMen First Class better than all the previous XMen movies combined.
Omnes Omnibus
@Eric U.: No military is built for policing.
ChrisNYC
@Burnspbesq: Well, he was in the NSC under Clinton. So he has some influence in some rather powerful circles, not including the current Oval Office.
Chris
@handsmile:
“Hey, wanna watch me tempt fate?”
If some poor bastard had said a thing like that back in World War Two, Patton would’ve shot him on the spot. Heck, even Ike might’ve shot him on the spot.
Roger Moore
@mapaghimagsik:
No, but Obama has a goatee, and Krugman is clean shaven.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Anne Laurie:
First you destroy Imani and then you turn your burning rage onto Michelle. I hope you are happy making all these martyrs.
Southern Beale
BECAUSE IT WENT SO WELL THE LAST TIME….
Jesus. What a fucking moron. I can’t believe this much stupid gets paid to spew this shit.
Baud
@raven:
Jeez. Chuck’s going to ruin everything for Pollack and me.
Suzanne
@PsiFighter37: I feel you. I am so slammed with work right now I don’t even have time to take a piss. We’ve lost two experienced staff members in the last three months, so senior management replaced them with interns, gave their work to me and my colleagues who are on my “level” (without giving the title or salary bump), and now wants us to also train the interns.
Good trick.
trollhattan
Weird local NOAA weather forecast of “patchy smoke.” There’s something I don’t read every day. (I guess it’s from the big fire in the Sierra, near Fresno.)
And sure enough, it’s hazy brown on an otherwise clear, cool day.
Also, too, this asshole is still on the loose. We can still craft homicidal maniac gun nuts with the best of them.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/30/5609741/shasta-homicide-suspect-named.html#storylink=cpy
136 weapons and they think he has more. Just great.
Chris
@SatanicPanic:
I think the X-Men trilogy is still my favorite bunch of superhero movies ever made, but I may change my mind when the prequel trilogy is finished. Mostly liked First Class – but I was sorry that they had Xavier and Magneto’s meeting and their falling out in the same movie. The original movies (and the comics) hinted at a much deeper (and presumably longer) relationship before they went their separate ways – I’d have preferred to see several movies building up to their break.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven: See you at a victory party!
Honus
@Chris: exactly. And if we had just stayed out, Saddam would be dead now, somebody would have stuck a knife in him or he would have died of cancer or old age, and the moderates would have taken more power in what was already a largely secular muslim country. Instead we blew up the country, radicalized most of the population and greatly empowered the Iranian Shiites. All for the purpose of privatizing those massive oil reserves so Dick Cheney could sell them to China.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Here’s hopin!
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
It’s great if you’re the NRA. Think of the sales!
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie: I’ll not only keep you in the loop, I’ll have you contributing time, money, energy, talent, blood, toil, sweat, tears and effort!
Yeah, okay, i’ll let you know what’s going on.
raven
@trollhattan: “100 rounds of assorted ammunition.” WTF, less than a round per weapon.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Omnes Omnibus:
True, but mine ain’t gonna be one of them.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
:-)
Yup
kc
@handsmile:
Arggh, thanks. I should have remembered that.
It makes me angry to read it again.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Which brings up a critical point: who’s going to liberate those poor seized weapons back into polite, law-abidin’ society? If this were Arizona they’d have already held a raffle. “For the kids.”
raven
@Honus: If a bullfrog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass when he hopped.
trollhattan
@raven:
Do you suppose it’s because Obama bought up all the ammo? (Am I misremembering, or was that a gun-fondler meme earlier this year?)
schrodinger's cat
From the thread below since it seems to be dead; all dressed up and read to go
Schlemizel
I forget, how many children and grandchildren did this dumb Pollack guy commit to saving Iraq?
raven
@trollhattan: It certainly was one of the many rumors that spurred the ongoing shortage.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Roger Moore:
Good luck with that. Money is the root of all evil is perhaps the most smart quote I have ever heard. There is nothing people will do when money is involved.
schrodinger's cat
@Schlemizel: I remember that he was on Oprah during the run up to the war, pimping it.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne:
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
As long as the right Democrats are president. And I really do include Hillary Clinton in this list.
SatanicPanic
@Chris: I liked the first two, but I thought the third badly messed up the Dark Phoenix story arc from the comic books (oh jeez, I am a nerd). I also felt like some of the actors were too A-List. Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart in particular. Hard to enjoy something I spent years reading, which is maybe why I liked the Avengers better- I never read those as a kid. Also, Captain America has grown into one of my favorite Marvel characters in recent years. He’s like what Superman should be, but no one has figured that out yet.
ETA- and good point about Xavier vs Magneto- there should have been a lot longer build up there. But they become friends again in the comics every now and then when it fit the story line, so maybe that will happen.
Jeremy
I had a feeling the republicans would not take Obama’s tax reform offer because they are pretty much against anything he proposes, and he wants to have true tax reform which removes the loopholes, tax breaks, that many corporations benefit from in order to pay a much lower rate.
We can reduce the corporate tax rate to a level around other industrialized countries while cleaning up the tax code which will make them pay the effective rate. Republicans today love to cut taxes but refuse to close loopholes.
WereBear
@Mnemosyne: That sounds massively awful. So sorry.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven: Jesus Murphy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne: After my dad died in 1995, I had NO contact, NONE, with my three siblings for the next three years. It’s still somewhat . . . fraught, although we do speak and are civil to each other now.
And my dad had almost no estate to leave. But I was executrix of what little there was, and apparently I didn’t move quite fast enough for my brothers and sister (by the way, I was the only one working a full-time job at the time) so they sued me. Fun times.
Chris
@SatanicPanic:
I’m probably the only person on Earth who enjoyed “The Last Stand” as much as the first two movies, but it probably helps that I hadn’t read any of the comics at the time (and still haven’t read the Dark Phoenix stories), and so I had nothing to compare it to. The thing I liked about the Phoenix was that it basically tossed a being who was as far above the mutants as the mutants are above the humans into the mix, and then showed whether the mutants reactions would be any different from what the humans’ had been (turns out – not so much). Which is an interesting direction to take the story, to say the least.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne: I should clarify, they sued me within two months. I didn’t sit on things for three years or anything close!
Estrangement from one’s family is devastating.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne: I am very sorry. That just sucks.
Jeremy
@Southern Beale: Some people never learn. The Iraq war was the a bigger failure than Vietnam. And though we didn’t lose as many troops in Iraq in comparison to Vietnam. The country has fractured into various factions and the country is now more closely aligned with Iran. Vietnam was bad but after the communist took of Saigon the civil war ended, Vietnam became an emerging economy, and the U.S. and Vietnam re-established trade/ foreign relations.
Chris
@Jeremy:
There’s your answer. The “lesson” of Vietnam, as far as at least half the country is concerned, is “we didn’t win because the politicians didn’t let us win and the liberals and hippies undermined our support at home, the lesson is to never fail to support the military completely and then you’ll never lose.” (A more specific phrase would blame Walter Cronkite for making us feel like we’d lost after the Tet Offensive, when the Tet Offensive was actually our victory over the Viet Cong). Those fail to learn from history… and Iraq is up for the same kind of revisionism.
pillsy
In some universe, you might stick your penis in a toaster, despite the fact that your dick got stuck the last time you tried that. In this universe, you’d have to be some kind of fucking idiot to stick your penis in a toaster once.
Jeremy
@Jeremy: Corrections:The Iraq war was a bigger failure than Vietnam. Vietnam was bad but after the communist took over Saigon the civil war ended.
Suzanne
I didn’t think it was possible, but the Weiner story got even sleazier.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
You could be the one that has to take care of all the details because you’re the only one both your parents trust. Including putting them in hospice so they can die peacefully. You get to do this because none of your siblings can make a life decision. This includes being the one on all the health care and legal power of attorneys and the trusties of the wills.
And then having your siblings argue with every decision or throw up their hands and say you just make the decision(They didn’t do this that much).
Fun times.
It does make it easier to disown relatives when they act like complete fucking assholes at the worst possible moments and then act like nothing ever happened, so there is that.
pillsy
@Suzanne:
Fortunately for Anthony Wiener, his campaign isn’t in any sort of trouble, so he should be able to crusie to victory despite the fact that his communications director is a flagrantly incompetent bilge harpy.
I am not a kook
@Mnemosyne: Once my kids are a bit older, I’m going to tell them not to expect a cent when I kick it. While I live, they will get what help I can give. Except I’m going to blow $BIGNUM on a (sub)orbital flight ticket in ~12-20 years if I’m still around.
Fuck, going to have to find me a Silly Con valley totally predictably successful startup for a job. Anyone have pointers?
NotMax
Yoicks. Unbearable.
Grisly.
Jeremy
@Chris: True ! I can recall the arguments I’ve had with some who believe that we could have won that war and all we needed was more support. The problem is that we should have never put troops on the ground because it wasn’t strategic.
kindness
Tough thread. Read it earlier over at the Esquire site. Yea, been reading the 2nd string. They’re good. They don’t have Charles way with words but they’re good.
Thanks for bringing this up again Anne. Sometimes it’s the folks on your own side you really gotta look out for.
srv
@Eric:
Er, sorry, just finished Season 3. Major drama.
PsiFighter37
@Suzanne: So when does Huma jump ship as well?
mai naem
I suggest that Bill Kristol,Matt Continetti, Ken Pollack, Robert Kagan , Elliott Abrams,Gary Bauer,William J. Bennett,John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, George W, Bush,Richard B. Cheney, Lizzie Cheney and her husband,Eliot A. Cohen,Midge Decter,Paula Dobriansky,Steve Forbes,Aaron Friedberg,Francis Fukuyama ,Frank Gaffney,Fred C. Ikle,Donald Kagan,Zalmay Khalilzad,I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby,Norman Podhoretz,J. Danforth Quayle,Peter W. Rodman,Stephen P. Rosen,Henry S. Rowen,Donald Rumsfeld,Vin Weber,George Weigel,Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Pantload Goldberg, Tony Blair and his son, Mitt , Tagg, Buck, Buzz, Biff, and Rock Romney, Huckelberry Graham, Eric Cantor, Victoria Jackson, Karl Rove,Steve Doocy, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh,Sean Hannity,Patricia Heaton, Ted Nugent,Chuck Krauthammer and Joe Lieberman and all his kids form a platoon and go over to I-raq. I am certain President Obama would be very happy to fund this particular platoon. Just remember what Rumsfeld said: you get to go with the tools you have not the ones you wish to have.
danielx
In an alternative and more just universe, Pollack and fellow neocons would be thrown off a helicopter (while naked) in Fallujah with “cheerleader for George Bush and his Iraq War” written on their foreheads in Arabic in indelible ink.
Or maybe buried at a crossroads with a stake through their hearts, these bastards have more lives than ten cats – no matter how discredited they are at a given point in time, they just keep coming back to life instead of being pilloried in Lafayette Square and having garbage thrown at them.
liberal
@Jeremy:
Yeah, though Christ that war lasted forever. ISTR that the French started intervening in 1946.
danielx
@mai naem:
Pantload Goldberg takes me back…although my favored nickname for dear Jonah was Jabba the Hack.
fka AWS
@danielx: Only the good die young.
Suzanne
@PsiFighter37: If she’s smart, ten minutes ago.
hugely
@NotMax:
Lol I skimmed right over that word thinking they found bears but then the next few sentences returned to grisly
Actually not funny at all
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I have learned over 20 years of being a paralegal to never, ever, ever, die with money in the bank or any assets whatsoever,
Fortunately, a growing number of people are avoiding this problem these days…
Calming Influence
@Jeremy:
I think I’ll disagree. Over 50,000 young Americans came home from Viet Nam in body bags. Combine that with the fact that we still didn’t prevent the communist takeover of South Viet Nam, which war the reason we were there in the first place, and that adds up to a pretty massive failure.
Patrick
In an alternative universe, people like Mr Pollack and the 67% of the Americans who were for this idiotic war back in 2003, would reimburse the rest of us for the heavy cost. One $trillion and counting…
something fabulous
@SiubhanDuinne: Do you hear anything about “Dr. Rad”? [Branko Radulovacki– his name is going to be a challenge!] Just found out a HS friend of my brother’s has entered the race, and I’m so interested in how it’s going to go! I know I’m late to this thread; maybe I’ll ask again when I notice a gathering of Georgians; I’m in LA…
Mnemosyne
@Just Some Fuckhead:
The NSA must have given you a direct feed to the three-hour call I just got off with my brother the trustee.
A Humble Lurker
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You’re gonna need a little more straw for that thing. Way it is now it’ll never keep the crows away.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mnemosyne: Nah, I was just going by the “apples don’t fall too far from the tree” maxim.
KXB
In an alternate universe, the other me is not living in an extended family household, is not driving a 12 year old Honda, and is actually putting his MBA to use. He is living in a nice highrise in the city, offering views of Lake Michigan, with a good woman by his side.
I hate anyone who lives in the alternate universe. Don’t care for most people in this one either.