Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Late Night Open Thread: “But About Your Iraq Problem, Mr. Trump… “

Late Night Open Thread: “But About Your Iraq Problem, Mr. Trump… “

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I’m beginning to wonder (hope?) whether the media might be turning Trump’s “I was against going into Iraq, before I was for it” bullshit into the equivalent of their bottomless fascination with Hillary Clinton’s emails. If so, it would be a most fitting punishment for Hair Fuhrer, since the whole kerfuffle is very much his own fault. He had very little reason to bloviate about his superior predictive foreign-policy skills in the first place; he was lying when he first brought up the topic; he could’ve ended the whole discussion early by acknowledging that he’d made a mistake; and he can’t stop bringing it up, even though it’s clear even to him that nobody believes him and every reiteration makes him look worse!

Note the wide range of media outlets & experts represented or quoted below:


Maybe it’ll start a trend?…

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    He is a pathological liar. He makes Tommy Flanagan look like the epitome of honesty.

    That’s what he is. Say it every time. He’s lying. He cannot be trusted.

  5. 5.

    seaboogie

    Why on earth was Trump publicly opining about the Iraq war in ’03? And how did he get a voice on that back then as a real estate developer? This is all on the media and their lazy fascination with a dude with an epic personality disorder, one that continues to this day. That said personality disorder is not called into question and mentioned every single day of this election is a complete failure on the part of media to do their damn job.

  6. 6.

    Joyce H

    When Trump was asked about rape in the military, part of what he said was –

    “Right now, part of the problem is nobody gets prosecuted. You have reported and — the gentleman can tell you, you have the report of rape and nobody gets prosecuted. There are no consequence.

    When you have somebody that does something so evil, so bad as that, there has to be consequence for that person. You have to go after that person. Right now, nobody’s doing anything”

    Soooo – surely this is an opening for the press to discuss the fact that Trump himself has been accused of rape several times and is currently facing a lawsuit alleging that he repeatedly raped a 13 year old girl? After all, there’s a report, and ‘there has to be consequence for that person. You have to go after that person.’

  7. 7.

    TriassicSands

    Trump opposed the Iraq war “loud and strong.” It’s just that he only did it while he was sitting on the toilet in his own home. That’s where Donald does all of his deep thinking.

  13. 13.

    PST

    There is an editorial in today’s New York Times, “A Debate Disaster Waiting to Happen,” that implicitly criticizes the paper’s coverage of the campaign, or so it seems to me, at least. This is the key paragraph:

    Mr. Lauer seemed most energized interrogating Mrs. Clinton about her use of a personal email server while secretary of state. Focusing on it meant that other critical issues — like America’s role in Afghanistan and its ties with China — went unaddressed. He was harder on Mrs. Clinton than on Mr. Trump, reflecting a tendency among some journalists to let Mr. Trump’s deceptions go unchallenged. That certainly was the case when he let Mr. Trump attack Mrs. Clinton for voting for the Iraq war and going into Libya when Mr. Trump had supported those actions.

    Maybe someone there is starting to say enough is enough.

  14. 14.

    drylake

    I’ve been hoping against all hope that the NYT specifically and the press corpse in general would suddenly post-Labor Day stop being Prince Hal debauching himself in Eastcheap–not to suggest in a million years that DT is to be compared to the wonderful Falstaff–and transform itself into noble Henry V, and kick righteous ass, but then I guess that’s why poetic justice has developed such a bad name.

  15. 15.

    Cermet

    @efgoldman: Understand only too well; been there, done that a few times and it isn’t fun. Hope all turns out well and that it was a false alarm. Best wishes.
    Also, don’t let this be a reason not to go when necessary even if this was a false alarm. You both did the right action!

  18. 18.

    raven

    @efgoldman: I’m hoping she’s ok!

    Now, goddamn it I was lucky enough to just see “Denver” in your post and avert my eyes since I was watching the 4th on my DVR! Being a Dawg I hate fucking “Cammy” so I’m glad they lost!@

  20. 20.

    Keith G

    That pic of Donald allowed me to notice his flag pin. A quick check over the last few days of HRC appearances shows no flag pin. She must hate America. Why has this not been addressed?

  22. 22.

    raven

    (CNN)In a late and likely consequential move, a co-founder of Facebook is donating $20 million of his fortune to Democratic coffers in a bid to help defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    Thanks for the link to the Post’s piece about Hillary’s email use.

    In fact, Ms. Clinton’s emails have endured much more scrutiny than an ordinary person’s would have, and the criminal case against her was so thin that charging her would have been to treat her very differently. Ironically, even as the email issue consumed so much precious airtime, several pieces of news reported Wednesday should have taken some steam out of the story. First is a memo FBI Director James B. Comey sent to his staff explaining that the decision not to recommend charging Ms. Clinton was “not a cliff-hanger” and that people “chest-beating” and second-guessing the FBI do not know what they are talking about. Anyone who claims that Ms. Clinton should be in prison accuses, without evidence, the FBI of corruption or flagrant incompetence.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: I’m here. Some slight improvements with the reduction in inflammation (I no longer have to pick up my arm with my left hand to move my right hand around the keyboard, I am able to slide it around all on it’s own. painful but doable) but my natural grumpy grouchiness has grown exponentially with the frustration of being unable to do damn near anything at all. It wears on my wife, she is a saint for putting up with it, but it wears.

  31. 31.

    Patricia Kayden

    @efgoldman: Wow. Hopefully everything works out with Mrs. efgoldman. I know you’ll be good and tired all of today as will your poor wife.

    @PST: That’s a good sign. I guess NYT is listening to its critics and may modulate its coverage of the candidates now so that it fairly goes after both candidates. Or so we can hope.

  32. 32.

    bystander

    Hope the Goldman and Hillbilly households are on the mend.

    Moanin’ Joe’s Meeka is having yet another round table discussion about how stupid Gary Johnson is and acting as if Barnacle had saved the country from America electing an uninformed dummy. I couldn’t help but wonder where Trump would be if they had all taken the HuffPo approach of treating him like a Kardashian.

  33. 33.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Co-sign the above his wishes for improving health and well being among the commenteriat and their loved ones. Sending supportive thoughts and good wishes from down under!

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @efgoldman: I am happy things are looking stable and up. I never considered how stressful an ER is for a patient having heart or stress or anxiety issues…. Hang in the ef! And healing thought to Mrs ef

  37. 37.

    debbie

    @efgoldman:

    I’ve been in a couple NYC ERs so I know how horrifying they can be. Hope Mrs EF can get answers and get this resolved as soon as possible.

  39. 39.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @OzarkHillbilly: has anybody suggested lidocaine patches? I know a couple of people where lidocaine patches worked really well and there’s fewer side effects than oral pain meds.

  40. 40.

    Immanentize

    Re:NYTimes. The op-ed pages and the news pages are supposedly kept separate and, from experience, I can tell you that what is said on the opinion pages does not change the nature of reporting. But I am hoping that they did feel something from the clue by four they have been hit with several times this season.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @Mai.naem.mobile:

    I’ve used lidocaine patches to deal with a 16-month long cough. The coughing didn’t stop, so the pain didn’t either, but they really took the edge off the pain.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:
    Thanks for the update. I’ve seen the ER at the nearby hospital (which is in a well-to-do community), and it’s not fun even under the best circumstances, so I can imagine how much stress it was adding to your bride’s psyche.

    You and Mrs. efg are in my thoughts. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the best, most benign possible outcome.

  46. 46.

    HRA

    We are days from another anniversary of 9/11. Looking back no one disagreed to going after who did this to us. Especially when I realized the plane that went down in Western PA was only a 45 minute drive on the road from my own house in NYS.

    Hillary was my senator. Her vote for the war in Iraq was right. It is still right today. It was not right for her to be targeted about it in the 2008 election even though I was a supporter of Obama and it is not right today as well.

    To be clear, I was in support of the Iraq war in the beginning. Then I became against it as did many others as well.

    .

  49. 49.

    Lurking Canadian

    @HRA: There might be an argument that Clinton’s Iraq vote is defensible on the grounds that she thought she was voting to give a bigger stick to UN investigators.

    But even at the time, there were no credible claims that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. 9/11 reaction was Afghanistan. Iraq was just Cheney and Bush getting their war on.

  52. 52.

    James E Powell

    @Lurking Canadian:

    There’s reality and there’s political reality. Every Democrat in congress who had White House ambitions voted in favor of the Iraq Invasion. It may have cost her the nomination in 2008, but in 2002 Friedman’s “suck on this” mindset was prevailing.

  55. 55.

    Gelfling 545

    @efgoldman: Glad she’s home & feeling a bit better. Probably best to see he own docyot anyway if the situation is no longer acute.
    It kind of reminds me of my Mom. Whenever she was hospitalized ( and she was due to type 1 diabetes & all the attendant good fun), her doctor had to authorize her release even thpugh her pressure would be over the moon. Seems that being in the hospital raised her bp.

  56. 56.

    HRA

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Evidently you do not understand my thought on it at all. It’s ok. Everyone has a right to their own opinions. Even if I am in disagreement, I will never ever use the words you used in your response.

  57. 57.

    The Other Chuck

    @HRA: Going into Afghanistan was going after the perpetrators of 9/11. Iraq was about one-upping daddy, and everyone knew it was going to make things worse. HRC is pretty much equally tainted as everyone else though, which doesn’t give her a pass so much as acknowledges the ugly reality of the politics. Changing our whole defense posture away from empire-building is going to be the only way to stop this kind of thing, and that doesn’t happen with a single president.

  58. 58.

    Adam Waldorf

    even though it’s clear even to him that nobody believes him and every reiteration makes him look worse!

    I assure you that the people who are voting for him believe him and no amount of facts will change that.

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