Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Consistently wrong since 2002

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I really should read my own blog.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Infrastructure week. at last.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Speaking of Supporting Our Troops

Speaking of Supporting Our Troops

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This dovetails nicely with Anne Laurie’s previous post. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released from captivity today in a swap for five Afghan detainees in Gitmo. It’s all around excellent news, and I am glad we finally got him home and reunited with his family.

Oh, the point of this post? Republicans are furious he is coming home. I’d really like, as someone in the OTB comments mentioned, to see these Republicans speak to Bergdahl’s family about how this sucked and was terrible. Or any other veteran or family of a veteran on the planet, for that matter.

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  1. 1.

    MattF

    OK, go ahead, impeach Obama. Um, please? Pretty please with sugar sprinkles on top?

  2. 2.

    Baud

    To plagiarize a tweet, conservatives are upset Obama didn’t trade arms for hostages.

  3. 3.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    It also lowered the number of people at Gitmo by five. Win/win.

  4. 4.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    Of course Republicans are furious. What else would you expect from a party suffering from advanced raging asshole syndrome? (Warning: this condition may be triggered by the words, deeds, presence or even the thought of imperfectly white people who aspire to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness).

  7. 7.

    Patrick

    Republicans always like to claim that the Benghazi investigation is for the families of those who were killed. I guess some families are more important than others, since they don’t seem to care about Bergdahl’s parents.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    I’d really like, as someone in the OTB comments mentioned, to see these Republicans speak to Bergdahl’s family…

    That would require courage, so it’ll never happen.

  9. 9.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @debbie:

    Well, if Joe the Unaplumber had the courage to tell bereaved families that their losses didn’t trump his right to carry a large black metal man-dildo around with him as he worked on his project of being able to lay pipe……

  12. 12.

    Hunter Gathers

    Jesus Christ, these GOPers are so fucking pissed about this that you’d think that Bergdahl was black. Or Muslim. Or both.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    Prisoner exchanges aren’t exactly a new thing. It appears the wingnuts are upset that Obama did not notify Congress 30 days prior to the exchange. I say he should note that there were exigent circumstances and that time was of the essence. Then he should just ignore their complaints.

  14. 14.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Hunter Gathers:

    His life was touched by the Kenyan Muslim Socialist, so he gets to be both automatically because… TYRANNY!

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republican lawmakers on Saturday accused President Barack Obama of breaking the law by approving the release of five Afghan detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for a U.S. soldier believed held by Islamist insurgents for five years.

    The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited “unique and exigent circumstances” as justification.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @big ole hound: Fuck if I know. But then I ain’t a wingnut complaining about the deal.

    @Baud:

    The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited “unique and exigent circumstances” as justification.

    Works for me.

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    I’m perfectly happy to have the wingnuts complain that an American POW was brought home from a foreign country and say that we totally should have left him to rot there. I especially want John fucking McCain to stand up and declare that we should leave POWs in country rather than bring them home by whatever means we can.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    The petty side of me wishes that this deal had been made a week ago, just so we could have watched this GOP whining on Memorial Day.

  27. 27.

    Long Tooth

    It’s hardly “good news all around”.

    Rather, it’s just a another unraveled thread in the great tragedy of the Big Lie War.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    I’d really like, as someone in the OTB comments mentioned, to see these Republicans speak to Bergdahl’s family about how this sucked and was terrible.

    They’d love to talk to them; it’s the listening to what they have to say in return that’s the problem.

  30. 30.

    Jay C

    The sheer imbecility of McKeon’s and Inhofe’s petty piss-and-moan over SGT Bergdahl’s release is matched only by its cliched and clueless triteness:

    “Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk,”

    I’m thinking that that’s still an improvement over how our “terrorist adversaries” view Americans now; still less our “forces in Afghanistan” – i.e. as targets for bullets and bombs. Or do the good Congresscritters think that US forces are universally viewed in Afghanistan as benificent liberators, and that Obama’s exchange is going to change the locals’ opinion to see Americans only as ransom-bait?

    Morons.

  32. 32.

    gbear

    @dmsilev: Well the lead video that comes up for me on YouTube right now is titled “Gun Activists Harass Marine Veteran”, so it’s not like they needed this prisoner exchange to be total assholes on Memorial Day. It’s been posted one day and has over 800,000 hits so far.

  33. 33.

    Tommy

    I don’t know how he got released. My gut, a shit load of US dollars in a bag. Fine. The dude, five years. Enough!

    I recalled when I was like 5-6. My father taught at the Army War College. Leavenworth, KS. My dad took me in like 1974 to see a “great American” speak. John McCain. For maybe two hours he spoke of what it was liked to be tortured. In detail a 6 year old didn’t need to hear! It is the FIRST vivid experience of my life. Sad but true.

    I recall it like it was yesterday …..

    One of the things I recall from McCain is that everybody thinks they won’t break. Everybody breaks under torture. You can only do so much.

    When he got a stand ovation for a few minutes, he just said “I made it back home …..”

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @Jay C:

    Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans.

    Maybe if we close Gitmo, we won’t have anything to trade, and that will reduce the incentive.

  36. 36.

    Hill Dweller

    The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited “unique and exigent circumstances” as justification.

    The WH is just trolling the wingnuts at this point.

  38. 38.

    Jay C

    @Baud:

    And maybe if we bring most of our troops back from Afghanistan, they’ll have even fewer targets to go after!

  41. 41.

    muddy

    I loved the one comment about how 5 for 1 was a bad deal. What are you, in the bazaar?

    ET clarify: the comment in the linked article, not in here.

  42. 42.

    scav

    @Jay C: Capture as option. Whereas before they just had an incentive to kill them. As the kill option places less financial strain on the VA, clearly the the traditionalist “troop supporters” would totally be in favor of that option I guess. Right?

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @Jay C:

    And maybe if we bring most of our troops back from Afghanistan, they’ll have even fewer targets to go after!

    No, no. We have to provide potential hostages over there so they won’t look for potential hostages over here.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Tommy: I was talking about your suggestion that cash was involved. Do you really think that there was more than the 5:1 swap? If so, what is your evidence?

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @muddy:

    I loved the one comment about how 5 for 1 was a bad deal.

    I see it just the opposite. The Taliban is admitting that one American sergeant is worth five top level Taliban leaders.

  48. 48.

    Heliopause

    @Mnemosyne:

    I especially want John fucking McCain to stand up and declare that we should leave POWs in country

    Needless to say, McCain’s release was the result of a negotiation followed by, in essence, an American retreat from Vietnam, he wasn’t liberated by a conquering army.

  52. 52.

    Tommy

    @Roger Moore: I am a liberal, liberal, fucking liberal.

    Here is a case where if these folks pop their heads up we need to put a bullet into their heads.Just saying.

  54. 54.

    D58826

    @Hill Dweller: I can hardly wait for Issa to launch his investigation and listen to the goopers talk impeachment. Maybe they can subpoena the solders parents.

  55. 55.

    muddy

    @Roger Moore: I’m not sure if I was clear that I thought it a ridiculous notion, I was mocking them. I said to a friend earlier that maybe they only wanted 2 for 1, but Obama raised it to 5 as a backdoor to get more people out of stupid Gitmo.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    Speaking of Gitmo, I keep wondering why President Obama doesn’t just order Gitmo to be torn down, and build some nice resort in its place for the current prisoners at Gitmo to reside in.

    Give their families the ability to visit, etc.

    Surely that would get the Rethugs to let the prisoners go so we can close the place and blow it off the map.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    @WaterGirl:
    Alas, there is no fracking way the Republican House would vote for the budget allocation. I would not dare hope even for Democratic support in the House or Senate.

  59. 59.

    Gator90

    Conservatives secretly despise the troops. To them, soldiers are shiftless federal government employees who weren’t smart enough to inherit wealth or be job creators.

  60. 60.

    Jay C

    @Roger Moore:

    I still think we got a pretty good deal at 5:1, after all, look what it cost the Israelis to get Gilad Shalit back:

    Shalit was abducted near the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel, and held by Hamas as a hostage at an unknown location in the Gaza Strip.[12] On 18 October 2011, he was released in a deal that secured his freedom after more than five years in isolation and captivity, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including some convicted of multiple murders and carrying out terror attacks against Israeli civilians (according to Israeli government sources, the prisoners released were collectively responsible for 569 Israeli deaths

    I think we should congratulate President Obama: not only for safely negotiating the return of SGT Bergdahl, but also for setting a new, and more-rational exchange rate for the international hostage-of-war market!

  61. 61.

    Long Tooth

    The decision by the democratic party to turn a blind eye to treason of 2003-2008 will haunt the country for decades.

    Lest You Forget: Hillary Clinton remains proud of having supported the Bush/Cheney Big Lie War.

    Suffice to note, her bloody sense of pride and ambition is tantamount to a defense- if not outright endorsement– of the criminal Bush/Cheney administration.

    So, refresh my memory.

    Again, why on earth is she currently considered the democratic front runner for that party’s presidential nomination in 2016?

  62. 62.

    Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)

    @Jay C:

    You don’t suppose we could get the Taliban to take the GOP off our hands at a competitive rate, do you? I mean, the wingnuts would clearly be happier in a less liberal environment and it’s not as if we couldn’t afford the money, especially when you factor in the trillions of dollars we’ll save over time through not having to deal with the GOP’s daily fuckups.

  64. 64.

    jonas

    Lemme get this straight — Obama’s great crime during Benghazi was supposedly just sitting around doing nothing when service men and women were in danger; now he actually does something to *rescue* a POW on the spur of the moment, and he still doesn’t do it right.

    Memo to our brave service men and women: if you’re ever captured by the enemy, rest assured that if an opportunity arises to get you released, our Congress will jump into action…and wait until proper committee notifications have been made, paperwork filled out, etc. Hang tight!

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    @muddy:
    I understood you were mocking the idea of questioning the exchange rate. I was just trying to turn the idea on its head by assuming Obama had gotten a fair trade and pointing out what it meant about the relative value of Americans vs. Taliban.

  67. 67.

    Roger Moore

    @jonas:

    Lemme get this straight — Obama’s great crime during Benghazi was supposedly just sitting around doing nothing when service men and women were in danger; now he actually does something to *rescue* a POW on the spur of the moment, and he still doesn’t do it right.

    You know the real story. Obama’s real crime during Benghazi was Presidenting While Black and a Democrat. He’s still black and a Democrat, so everything he does is still wrong.

  69. 69.

    J R in WV

    @Long Tooth:

    I’m thinking that any random non-Republilcan Senator that voted against the Iraq war would be a better candidate for president. I think that’s about 4 people, a couple of new senators who didn’t have a chance to vote for it, Al Frankin, Bernie Sanders(I). Any one else?

    I’m happy to vote for someone other than Hilary in a primary… but in the General Election? You got any better ideas? Anyone throwing their hat in the ring?

    Then STFU and help Hilary keep the Rs out of power!

  70. 70.

    Mike in NC

    @Mr Stagger Lee: Hack novelist turned FOX News douchebag Ralph Peters originally left the Army as a major, which tells you something about his illustrious career. I believe he campaigned for years to get a technical promotion to O-5.

  71. 71.

    Jay C

    @the Conster:

    I hope the return of the Nigerian girls is next.

    And I’m sure that if President Obama set up a clandestine black-ops rescue, and brought out all 226 of the Chibok abductees alive and well, some Congressional Republican would find something to gripe about – probably paperwork – and NewsMax would post a headline like: “Obama’s illegal raid frees Nigerian hostages.“

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    Saturday, May 31, 2014
    REPUBLICANS THREATENED TO RUN A WILLIE HORTON-STYLE CAMPAIGN IF OBAMA FREED BERGDAHL IN 2012

    It should be noted that objections to the Bergdahl negotiations didn’t just come from Republicans, according to Hastings:

    Some top-level officials within the administration, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are very wary about making a swap for Bowe. “Panetta and Hillary don’t give a shit about getting him home,” says one senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. “They want to be able to say they COINed their way out of Afghanistan, or whatever, so it doesn’t look like they are cutting and running.” (Both Clinton and Panetta, by law, would have to sign off on any exchange.)

    http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2014/05/republicans-planned-to-run-willie.html

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    says one senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations.

    While it wouldn’t shock me that Clinton took this view, I have a rule against trusting anonymous sources critical of any Democrat.

  74. 74.

    scav

    @jonas: “spur of the moment”? why? The breakthrough involving the Qatari government may have been recent, but it sounds as though basework has been going on for a long time, meaning years. It wasn’t a whim. Or do you just mean he leapt on the exact opportunity as soon as it arose?

  76. 76.

    The Pale Scot

    @Mnemosyne: I especially want John fucking McCain to stand up and declare that we should leave POWs in country rather than bring them home

    He’s already on record as saying that the POWMIA efforts in Vietnam should not have the backing of the government because it would interfere with the development of economic ties.

    POW groups have already called him the Manchurian Candidate

  79. 79.

    Avery Greynold

    An new incentive to capture American soldiers? As if they have been holding back till now. They have been successful in killing thousands of our soldiers. Would it be tragic if more soldiers had been captured instead?

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    @Long Tooth:

    Lest You Forget: Hillary Clinton remains proud of having supported the Bush/Cheney Big Lie War.

    I have never forgotten.

    She has never apologized for that vote. not after thousands dead, thousands maimed and almost 1 trillion dollars.

    she has never apologized.

    the Democrats could do better.

  84. 84.

    Roger Moore

    @The Pale Scot:

    He’s already on record as saying that the POWMIA efforts in Vietnam should not have the backing of the government because it would interfere with the development of economic ties.

    I’m actually going to side with McCain on this one. The people who are trying to bring home the remains of American servicemen from Vietnam seem to be doing OK without official status. That leaves the people who claim there are still living POWs in Vietnam, who are either nuts or only interested in causing problems for our relationship with Vietnam. Giving those people any kind of official status seems like a really bad idea.

  86. 86.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: I’ll stand in line to vote for her but she won’t get a cent from me.

    btw .. those wondering who won the McCain lottery, it’s Face the Nation.

  87. 87.

    jo6pac

    Not a fan of 0 but thanks for getting this done. I do wonder why now but it’s a good thing:)

  89. 89.

    JPL

    @jo6pac: I didn’t sleep in a Holiday Inn but I think he’s tired of the roadblocks that Congress has installed. He’s just going to do what he thinks is right.

  91. 91.

    max

    @MattF: OK, go ahead, impeach Obama. Um, please? Pretty please with sugar sprinkles on top?

    Nope, not going to be good enough for Mad Dog McCain. No, we have to declare war on *somebody* to make up for this. They can’t declare war on the White House, because the President would veto it, BUT! they can declare war on Sgt. Bergdahl!

    max
    [‘Also, NUKE THE MOON!’]

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    those wondering who won the McCain lottery, it’s Face the Nation.

    Starring, as Charlie Pierce might say, Peloponnesian Wars embed Bob Schieffer.

  94. 94.

    scav

    @JPL: Might also be something going on in Qatar where they though they could use a few high-profile international allies and good PR so they jostled things a little (Qatar World Cup related stuff looking somewhat unsavory). Endless possibilities as to why now.

  97. 97.

    JPL

    @scav: The involvement of Qatar helps but I was also thinking about Monday’s announcement about additional greenhouse regulations. He’s given up on Congress, imo. About time, too.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Long Tooth: There is a difference between being okay with her support of the war and thinking she is better than any Republican that the system would throw up. I am not behind her right now for a variety of reasons, but if she ends up being the Democratic candidate I’ll vote for her enthusiastically.

  103. 103.

    David Koch

    “We just can’t communicate the words this morning when we heard from the President,” said Bob Bergdahl, who has grown a long beard.

    “Today, we are ecstatic!” the couple said. “We were so joyful and relieved when President Obama called us today to give us the news that Bowe is finally coming home! We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son,” the parents said.

    “His mother was crying when she answered the phone — and just very excited,” said, Sherry Horton, a friend and former roommate of Bergdahl.

    After the couple’s brief remarks, they thanked Obama, and Jani Bergdahl and Obama exchanged a hug and a kiss.

    Tears of joy: Idaho hometown of Bowe Bergdahl prepares homecoming

  104. 104.

    scav

    @JPL:Entirely true, possible and not unwelcome. Differently-gaited Ducks do get to shake off the leash a bit.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    OT. Are you friends with Valdivia? I was thinking of her. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her post here. Any news?

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Roger Moore: She’s the frontrunner because no one else has come out yet. She is the frontrunner for the same reasons that she was the frontrunner for 2008 back in 2006 and look how that turned out.

    Edited.

  107. 107.

    ? Martin

    So, if these are such hardened terrorists, that we have been unable to try in court for the last 13 years, what was the GOPs desired end-game for them? Honestly, I think a field execution is about the only acceptable outcome to them.

  112. 112.

    JPL

    @scav: If the democratic members don’t stand up for his decisions, then oh well. They will face the same backlash as 2010.

  115. 115.

    Long Tooth

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): To your credit, you acknowledge Clinton’s unapologetic support of the Big Lie War.

    Still, you are prepared to enthusiastically endorse her nomination for the presidency?

    McCain and Romney enthusiastically supported that war, too. All rank-and-file republicans did, and a great many still do.

    Hillary, Bush and Cheney, remain defiantly proud of their judgement in 2003.

    When the issue was war, or peace.

    Then again, you know all that. So I’ll stop typing now…

  116. 116.

    Suffern ACE

    @? Martin: the end game is that they are subject to torture depending on the regime in washington’s whim. Now that Gitmo is set up, it will never be empty of prisoners. One regime will fill it up, the next won’t empty it. Every decade or so, more fools will be added. That’s the goal.

  120. 120.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    Why not just execute them then and save the taxpayers the bill?

    Why do you think they want to save the taxpayers money? It’s almost certain there are defense contractors making money from keeping Gitmo open.

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Long Tooth: Given that she will be miles better than any Republican, I would be enthusiastic about voting for her if she ends up as the nominee. I doubt that I will be an enthusiast for her in the primaries. I thought that had been made rather clear.

  122. 122.

    Roger Moore

    @Long Tooth:

    Still, you are prepared to enthusiastically endorse her nomination for the presidency?

    I think you have a reading comprehension problem. He said he will enthusiastically vote for her if she is nominated. That is not the same thing as being enthusiastic about her nomination.

  123. 123.

    karen

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    For that reason Bergdahl and his family better have protection because nutters who view them as traitors for “collaborating with the enemy (Obama)” and kill them all.

  125. 125.

    Gravenstone

    @Patrick: Bergdahl has the misfortune of being alive. He can’t be an effective martyr for their cause if he can speak for himself.

  127. 127.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I will be enthusiastic about the nomination of the Democrat who has the best chance to win the general election. Right now, that looks like Hillary, but she is by no means a lock. I want another D in the White House. I do not have the luxury of being a purist.

  128. 128.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yutsano:

    Wait, when did you turn back into “Yutsano”? I just can’t keep up with all the FYWP nym changes.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Suzanne: Exactly. Too be frank, at this point, I would rather it be someone else, but I am going to wait until the field fills out before picking my primary candidate. As far as my candidate in the general goes, I think it is rather obvious.

  132. 132.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Do you have a link to point me to re: a deadline related to immigration? I think I must have missed that when I was away.

  135. 135.

    karen

    Honestly, I think a Obama’s execution is about the only acceptable outcome to them.

    FIFY

  136. 136.

    Long Tooth

    @Roger Moore: “Nit pickers will bust your ass every time”.

    In a matter of war and peace, Clinton swallowed the lies of the Bush/Cheney administration hook, line, and sinker. Her support was whole hearted. She remains unapologetic, a defender of republican party foreign policy.

    It’s either that, or she took counsel of her presidential ambition (as did John Kerry), believing it essential to that ambition.

    There is no in-between explanation to be had.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @Long Tooth:

    Show me in my comment where I said I’m OK with her war vote. You can’t do it ’cause I didn’t say that.

    I said “any random non-Republilcan Senator that voted against the Iraq war would be a better candidate for president. ” Which is pretty much the opposite of what you told everyone I said.

    Get over yourself, and name the better candidate who will be the Dem nominee. I don’t like reality that much, but sometimes that’s all we got.

    STFU unless you can name the better candidate who is actually interested in running.

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    “Long Tooth” didn’t misread anything, he’s just lying about what you said just like he lied about what I said. Long Tooth means really really old, too old to know any better.

    Also willing to twist anything anyone says for a joke. What a jerk.

  142. 142.

    Gravenstone

    @Long Tooth: If Clinton survives the primary process and is the Democratic nominee, then yes she will see enthusiastic support among those who recognize the stakes. Those stakes being the potential for a Republican president. But your purity is duly noted.

  144. 144.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Long Tooth: Differentiating between a primary election and a general election is nit picking in your world? Odd.

    Well, I guess my philosophy for voting in them is really the same: I vote for the left-most candidate who I think had a realistic shot of winning. This makes me rather unlikely to vote for Hillary in the primary but would leave me happily vote for her in the general if she wins the primary.

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @J R in WV: I am again making an effort to presume good faith on the part of commenters until they demonstrated that such a presumption is unwarranted. Not going to call something a lie when it could just as easily be a mistake and so on. I will say that Long Tooth is pushing that envelope.

  146. 146.

    Steeplejack

    @Long Tooth:

    What is the point of your low-grade trollery? Or is it just bad reading comprehension? Omnes said that if Hillary ended up being the nominee he would vote for her enthusiastically. Somehow you put that through the blender and came out with “Still, you are prepared to enthusiastically endorse her nomination for the presidency?” Those are two separate things.

    ETA: And I see that others have already hit you with the clue-by-four.

  148. 148.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    What still kills me to this day is that we managed to survive for several decades with the very real threat of nuclear flaming death raining down from the heavens, but the thought of a few guys with box cutters sends us screaming into the night pissing ourselves.

    We let five of these yahoos go? Big fucking deal.

  149. 149.

    Long Tooth

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Clinton supported the Big Lie War and remains unapologetic about it, and no amount of being told to STFU will change that truth.

    That rude truth doesn’t register with many. It does with me. Her defense of the indefensible insults my intelligence, as well as my sense of what it means to be a patriot.

    Primary or general election be damned, the woman has proven herself unfit for the office.

  150. 150.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @efgoldman: I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me; I do mind someone intentionally misinterpreting me.

  152. 152.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Long Tooth: That’s fine. She crossed a redline for you. Others see it is a rather major black mark against her but still see her as better than any Republican. Are you prepared to see a Republican inaugurated as POTUS in order to avoid Clinton?

  156. 156.

    kindness

    I’m going to be curious what the military guys/gals say. Someone should ask them & then post their answers. I’m pretty sure it would be a good way of telling whining Repubs to STFU.

  158. 158.

    StringOnAStick

    I’d like to hear what current military folks think about this too. I sure wouldn’t call it a big booster for recruitment though.

  159. 159.

    kindness

    @StringOnAStick: No but they have to appreciate the stance of Obama getting the guy home vs Repubs ranting that this is a bad thing. Over at NPR the righties are saying the Sgt was a deserter so they’re doubling down. What a shock, eh?

  160. 160.

    Mnemosyne

    @Long Tooth:

    Primary or general election be damned, the woman has proven herself unfit for the office.

    So you’re voting Republican in 2016. Good to know.

  161. 161.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @kindness: Honest to god? I saw that the looney ret’d Colonel (Peters?) on Fox was saying this, but I hoped he was an outlier.

  162. 162.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman: I was attempting to relay my diagnosis. I was not questioning young gentleman Gravenstone. Apparently it’s not my night to be clear.

  163. 163.

    gwangung

    That rude truth doesn’t register with many. It does with me.

    No, it doesn’t. You’re just an attention hungry twit.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    It sounds about right that conservatives would be pissed that someone lived from their fucking war.
    Next time the only people who should be sent to war are the ones who think someone else besides them should go and die, regardless of their age or physical condition. We’ll save the taxpayers some money and let them take their own guns and use the training they’ve given themselves. And when they die we’ll leave them there, rotting in the sun. Assholes.

  165. 165.

    mclaren

    @Mnemosyne:

    Hillary Clinton is unfit for high office, but since the Republican alternatives are worse, I’ll be voting for her in 2016. As will every other sane person.

    The 2016 presidential election won’t be a choice between Dewey and Truman. It’ll be a choice between Boss Tweed and Voldemort.

  166. 166.

    mclaren

    @Steeplejack:

    I think the point this commenter is making is that Hillary Clinton really, really sucks as a future president. Her quarter-million-dollar speech at Goldman Sach explaining that the U.S. government and the American public need to stop complaining about billionaires destroying the middle class and ripping off our economy for trillions…Hillary’s unwholesome love for a national security state straight out of the novel 1984 (which HIllary seems to view not as a novel, but an instruction manual) and Hillary’s adoration of endless unwinnable foreign wars…it’s a deep cesspool when you study Hillary Clinton’s public statements and voting record.

    Unfortunately, all the Republican choice will be worse. So we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.

    When you’re fucked, it helps to let off some steam.

  168. 168.

    Mnemosyne

    @mclaren:

    I’m hopeful that, as in 2008, someone who’s barely on the public radar now will be able to beat her in the primary. I’ll vote for her over any Republican if she does somehow get the nomination, but she was “inevitable” in 2006, too.

  171. 171.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Long Tooth:You do realize this is Afghanistan we’re talking about and not Iraq? In case you and everyone else forgot the Big Lie was Saddam was behind the 911 attacks.

  172. 172.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    @David Koch: Re the Powers/Abel exchange, I just learned that my 2nd cousin, Dr. Richard Sciabetta, a high-ranking NATO Medico at the time, accompanied Powers from Checkpoint Charlie to the local NATO Medical Unit. A li’l footnote to history, it seems.

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