Finally

The NYT says it's time to get out.

If only they'd listened to me earlier...

...just a day shy of a Friedman since they wrote:

Mr. Bush must acknowledge that there is no military solution for Iraq. Whatever plan he offers needs to start with a tough set of political benchmarks for national reconciliation that the Iraqi government is finally expected to meet. It needs to concentrate enough forces in Baghdad to bring some security to streets and neighborhoods, giving Iraq's leaders one last opportunity to try to bargain their way out of civil war.

His plan needs to lay out tight timetables in which the Iraqis must take major steps to solve fundamental issues, including equitably dividing their oil wealth and disarming vengeful militias. There must also be a clear and rapid timetable for achieving enough stability in Baghdad to hand back significant military responsibilities to the Iraqis.

More Thread

Enjoy.

New Thread

Last thread got smelly. For some reason.

BoBo's Mailbox

Indeed it is a disgrace.

Fresh Thread

Out for the evening...

Eek

Lance Mannion suggests that our very seriously frightened pundit class is kept in that state by a steady stream of secret tales of vague horror.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Jeebus

God it's horrible. Death toll climbs in previously mentioned bombing.

A deadly truck bombing in a busy market in northern Iraq has killed 105 people and injured 240, police said.

The morning blast destroyed the market in the small town of Amirli, south of Kirkuk, killing many people instantly and trapping dozens in the rubble.

It was the most deadly single attack in Iraq since April, correspondents say.

Media Matters

From Paul Waldman.

Wanker of the Day

Lindsey Graham.

Meanwhile

Over there:

TUZ KHORMATO, Iraq - Suicide bombings killed nearly 50 people and wounded dozens in two Shiite villages north of Baghdad, including a large truck explosion Saturday that ripped through an outdoor market and buried victims in rubble, officials said.

Meanwhile

Over there:

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers killed by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol south of Baghdad on Friday, the military said, taking to eight the total number killed in Iraq in the last two days.

* BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed five Iraqi soldiers and one civilian by a checkpoint in east Baghdad, police said.

* KIRKUK - Six policemen wounded by a pair of roadside bombs near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TUZ KHURMATO - A truck bomb at a crowded outdoor market killed 30 people in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato, 70 km (45 miles) south of Kirkuk, police said. Ninety people were wounded.

BASRA - One British soldier was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra overnight Friday during the largest operation by British forces in the country this year, the military said.

GARGHOUSH - A suicide car bomber killed 22 people and wounded 17 on Friday in an attack on Shi'ite Kurds in Garghoush, a village near the Iranian border, a local official said.

You could always read....

Just because I'm too lazy to do anything but grab a pile of code off of my blogroll:

Mercury Rising

Cup 0' Joe

Fact-esque

Lance Mannion

Lawyers, Guns and Money

Agitprop

Progressive Gold

PSoTD

And I, of course, am Not Atrios.

Overnight

Just in case you missed the latest Keyboard Kommandos.

Shuster

As I said, isn't it about time MSNBC gives him his own show? That 9 o'clock slot is calling...

Joementum II: Red, White, and Blonde

Hilarious.

Sources

Oops:

The U.S. command in Baghdad this week ballyhooed the killing of a key al Qaeda leader but later admitted that the military had declared him dead a year ago...

...Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner began his Monday news conference with a list of top insurgents either killed or captured in recent operations. He said they had been eliminated "in the past few weeks" and were "recent results."

Meanwhile, Joe Lieberman, in his latest cut-and-paste job stated:

According to Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, the Iranian government has been using the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah to train and organize Iraqi extremists, who are responsible in turn for the murder of American service members.

Sounds like it has been a pretty busy couple of days in agitprop for General Bergner.

By the way, General Bergner is the new U.S. military spokesperson in Iraq coming directly from the White House.

- Attaturk

Fresh Thread

Uncertain Balance Sheet

These very serious people are buffoons.

Out for the evening...

Homosexual Mafia

I had no idea.

Chimpeachment

Clearly the American public is very silly and unserious, unaware as they are that constitutionally impeachment is only an acceptable course of action when David Broder says it is and the very important people at the Washington Post decide to poll it.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Broder's boy bounces all the way to 26% in Newsweek poll.

Politics

It's an interesting phenomenon with people who spend much of their lives in the Beltway that they forget that disagreement is at the root of politics. It isn't a flaw. People have genuine disagreements about stuff. There's nothing wrong with that. There's no virtue in everyone agreeing about everything, even if they all happen to agree with David Ignatius. It's frightening, not delightful, when people blindly line up to support their nominal leaders.

Neighbors

Poor Larry Johnson.

Talk Radio

Maybe if they find just the right conservative asshole they'll get ratings.

Without Hassle

I haven't see Sicko yet, but this is the thing which really gets me when Very Smart Wonky Technorats, and Very Serious People like Joe Klein start talking about some sort of universal health care plan. They can't seem to get away from the idea that it has to be complicated. They feel the need to make it complex. It has to be hard somehow. It's why I just go crazy when people start talking about "universal mandates" and whatnot, coming up with some system which forces everyone to sign up and pay for health insurance.

Just mail them a card and they're signed up, it's that simple.

To be clear, it isn't that I think a major overhaul of the health care system wouldn't be a complex undertaking, it's that there's no reason it needs to be a complex undertaking for individuals. It's like we're trained to think that health insurance has to be some giant pain in the ass.

Wanker of the Day

David Ignatius.

I want to get a drum-beat going

First, there's Krugman.

Then there's this other stuff.

And before we hear the usual excuses, there's this.

I'm serious. There is no reason not to start impeachment proceedings.

(Jeez, is everyone still on holiday?)

Overnight

Late Night

Rock harder you bastards.

They Make Predictions

Chuck Todd's boy still not popular.

Fresh Thread

enjoy.

Oh My

DC Madam no longer blocked from releasing phone records info (.pdf).

(tip from reader r)


....more info here.

And if the current court-ordered injunction is lifted, allowing Deborah Jeane Palfrey access to her files, she vows to send every last name and phone number to any journalist, blogger or private detective wanting them.

"I kind of think it will be like deciphering the Da Vinci Code," said Palfrey, in an exclusive Times-Herald interview Friday at a local coffee shop.

Of the more than 10,000 client names within the phone records, "a couple dozen to 100 or so" are Washington D.C. bigwigs.

"Statistically, this is absolutely a certainty," she said.

Lies and the Lying Liars

The repulsive Boortz edition.

A Pox on Both Their Houses

What Domenici is likely to do, of course, is follow in the path of the very serious Dick Lugar and suggest that while the president's policies are not good ones, those damn dirty Democrats are just too darned partisan (his good friend Joe agrees!) for anything to happen.

Happy to be wrong.


...adding, trying to change our Iraq policy involves more than just getting behind some piece of legislation or another which is unlikely to pass. It involves a willingness to get behind just about anything that forces a change in policy, even if you're not fully on board with those things because you consider them to be better than the status quo of "staying the course" to preserve the fragile ego of the idiot manchild.

Because Everyone...

I have no idea what the right thing to do for Tyson's Corner is, but despite my affinity for rail projects and similar it's also the case that unless you're interested in doing them sensibly - building them near where people actually live and work, encouraging development around the stations and not surrounding them with acres of asphalt, etc.. - there isn't much point in dong them. In truth, the real point of a real project through a place like Tysons Corner is to change Tysons Corner. If there isn't a willingness to do that, then don't bother.


When I lived in the O.C. a long-planned rail line was scuttled, and from what I remember it should have been. IIRC, opposition from residential neighborhood groups had basically prevented the line from running near any residential areas, making the entire thing rather pointless.
Of course a rail line to Dulles from DC might be a good project for other reasons, but as the project is described it's unlikely to do anything for Tysons Corner.

(via ezra)

But What Will He Do?

I'm not much interested in Republicans making rhetorical nods towards something closer to the right thing in Iraq unless they get a bit more active about trying to get us there.

Dick

Ezra's right that Gephardt's role in the Iraq debacle doesn't get the attention it perhaps deserves, though I suppose that's in part due to the fact that he's mostly not on the public stage anymore.


Still, I imagine that noise from the DFHs about the issue played some role in Kerry not choosing him for the VP slot.

Not Just Crazy

Demented sociopaths as well. Even nice friendly little wars involve lots and lots of bodies.

Still, they're very serious members of the permanent Washington class.

Great Moments in Congressional History

With respect to Dick Gephardt endorsing Clinton.

Meanwhile

Over there.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb killed 12 people and wounded 25 others in southern Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi police said.

They said several children were among the dead and wounded in the attack in the mainly Shi'ite neighborhood of Abu Dshir.

Wanker of the Day

Stu Rothenberg.

Their Hero

Conservative hero Fred Thompson was Nixon's mole.

Not surprised.

Because Everyone Loves Zoning Posts

Echoing Big Media Matt here, I'm always quite stunned at some of the reactions I get when I post about zoning/development issues. No one is trying to take your car away. No one is condemning your suburban existence or trying to wipe it out. No one is demanding everyone live in the equivalent of Manhattan. But the fact is there are a lot of policies in place - some which may have had a reasonable rationale at one point, some which probably never did - which promote the "one car per driving age member of the household" lifestyle.

I have no doubt that a lot of people live that lifestyle because they like it and they therefore support promoting policies which they perceive will lower the cost of it. But not everybody.

Morning

Damn rain.

Open Thread

Lemmy!

He's nobody

Because nobody loves you when you're down and out.

Discuss

Snake Goddess on The Man-Crush Primary.


Thers humiliated.

Me worried.

Fresh Thread

Please do the anti-rain dance, or something.

Stupid Campaign Finance Laws

Whatever the merits of campaign finance legislation generally, the per-state expenditure limits on the public finance laws are absurd.

Uncle Reamus

He's a special guy:

Today, President George “Uncle Reamus” Bush interrupted his vacation in Maine to visit such a school. Finding it closed, the president was inspired by the Bible and commanded that the children also sacrifice a bit of their summer vacation and had them brought unto him to celebrate the 4th of July. And what better, more patriotic way to do this than to celebrate the independence not of America or of American Africans but the liberation of Scooter Libby?

The Big Money

I'm not really sure how interesting or meaningful comparisons between overall Republican and Democratic fundraising numbers are. Sure they say something, but the real question is whether that carries through after the primary season. Enthusiasm now is less important than enthusiasm then. The Republicans still have plenty of money to compete with each other, which is what they're doing right now.

On our side, the 3Q and 4Q numbers will be interesting, as certain candidates continue to tap out their "big donors" and are forced to increase the number of small donors to stay competitive.

Hopeless

Ken Adelman:

This week, at a Denver City Club luncheon, Adelman said he sees the light at the end of the tunnel:

Adelman is not optimistic of a positive outcome to the American occupation of Iraq. … He said if by July 4th there is no progress made, “then I will say it is hopeless.”

Nevertheless, Adelman said President Bush’s escalation strategy is “worth a try,” even though its “chances of it succeeding are very low.” He also refused to express regret for promoting the war. “I expected an apology from you today,” said one attendee “who identified himself as a former intelligence officer for the United States Army during the Vietnam War.”

Crucial Two Months

Two months ago today:

Still, Rep. Jack Kingston, a reliable Bush supporter from Georgia, said that vote "could have been the peak, possibly the last statement of House public solidarity with the White House. As the war develops in the next two crucial months, the political solidarity may change."

A question increasingly asked in the Capitol is: how big a price might the party pay if the war continues to claim U.S. casualties without quelling the anti-American insurgency?

"We have been very supportive" of the administration's Iraq policy, Kingston said in an interview with The Associated Press. But among GOP House members, he said, "there are discussions on the floor: 'Hey, 30 members lost their seats last year, and a lot of them lost because of the war.'"

It might not matter, said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio. "As a party, we are locked into being the party of the war in Iraq -- right, wrong or indifferent," he said. "The only salvation for us is that it works."

Spreading an Ideology of Hope

Bush says that's our "charge."

How's all that hope-spreading going?

"TB Andy"

It doesn't matter what kind of TB the guy had, it should have never been a nonstop news story. It wasn't important.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Vewy, Vewy Late Night Thread

Shh!

Shalittery

Where are the cloning vats where these people are created?

So You Think Your Blog Is Even Suckier Than This One?

This is one of those posts which some will seen as a complaint, but it really isn't. It's a "be careful what you wish for" post for those who wish they had a "big blog" without really understanding what that involves. I certainly understand that people want to have a bigger audience, but it isn't all ponies and donuts.

I get about 600 emails per day to my blog email address, with very little of it being classic "Viagra and Nigerian scam" spam. I get lots of great info and tips, but I also get lots of other things. People email to complain about haloscan, or for other technical difficulties. People email to request I delete a comment they posted which accidentally revealed unwanted personal information, or to complain about people I should ban or the fact that I did ban people. Dozens of people add me to their generic "forward list," forwarding to me - and dozens of others - everything on the internets they find interesting. I get criticism, with some of it being thoughtful and interesting commentary on stuff I've written, but much of it is of the "what you should do with your blog" flavor. That is, people who insist that their priorities should be my priorities, that their interests should take precedent over my own.


Then there's being added to the press list of practically every campaign in the universe, along with those of every interest group under the sun. Plus the numerous people who request links to their organization or some focus on their issue, and that doesn't even include that fast swelling ranks of "word of mouth" marketers who spend their time trying to get bloggers to promote their latest whatever.

There's also the time spent trying to manage a community, which is actually a rather complex task that takes a lot of time even though it really benefits a relatively small number of readers. I love the comments community, and I'd be bored without it, but the fact is that the vast majority of people who read this site neither read nor participate in it.

None of this is complaint or resentment, it's simply a bit of a warning. Be careful what you wish for.

K.O.

Special comment.

Fresh Thread

Yeah, I'm on holiday schedule here.

Fresh Thread

Isn't it about time for MSNBC to give David Shuster his own show?

Self-Serving and Corrupt Act

Froomkin:

All of this means that Bush's decision yesterday to commute Libby's prison sentence isn't just a matter of unequal justice. It is also a potentially self-serving and corrupt act.

Was there a quid pro quo at work? Was Libby being repaid for falling on his sword and protecting his bosses from further scrutiny? Alternately, was he being repaid for his defense team's abrupt decision in mid-trial not to drag Cheney into court, where he would have faced cross-examination by Fitzgerald? (See my March 8 column, Did Libby Make a Deal?)

Bush and Press Secretary Tony Snow this morning continued to stonewall when it comes to any of the important questions about this case, Cheney and Bush's involvement, and the commutation itself. Bush said he wouldn't rule out a future pardon for Libby -- but didn't have much else new to say. Snow was simply ducking questions while asserting repeatedly that the president is entitled to exercise his clemency power when he sees fit.

It's true that the Constitution grants the president unlimited clemency and pardon power. But presidents have generally used that power to show mercy or, in rare cases, make political amends -- not to protect themselves from exposure.

Hamid the Mute

Apparently he's talking now!


I can't believe how absurd things are sometimes.

Meanwhile

Over there.

BAGHDAD, July 3 (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bombing in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad on Tuesday rose to 18, with 35 people wounded, Iraqi police said.

They said the toll was expected to rise.

Fresh Thread

Was out running errands.

The Rot at the Top

Our elite chatterers are utterly corrupt.

X-Rated

Ultimately, people should just stop spending so much time worrying about what other people are doing in their marriages. I don't really understand why people feel they have the right to weigh in on whether or not I should have children. It's especially creepy when conservatives go from being anti-premarital sex to being anti-sex period.

Wanker of the Day

Tim Noah.

Hardball

Marcy goes on Hardball.

Call the White House

Politely tell them what you think about the commutation.

Comments: 202-456-1111

Joe Wilson

On the Today Show this morning.

Rich

Inevitably, the subject of Marc Rich comes up every time presidential pardons come up. Without going into all of the issues, can we just remind the world that... Marc Rich's lawyer was Scooter Libby.

Karla Faye Tucker

Hey, how come Scooter got a commutation and Karla Faye Tucker got killed?

Riddle me this, David Broder, you asshole.

(I'm not Atrios but DAMMIT am I curious about the answer to this question.)

Atrios Mad

I'm going to be mad tomorrow. I'm going to be mad tomorrow that the elite media (except Keith) won't point out that Bush's commutation of Scooter's sentence is essentially obstruction of justice. I'll be mad because that concept was regularly inserted into the narrative during the Clinton days.


Mostly I'll be mad because I have yet to see a prominent Democrat put the phrase "obstruction of justice" out there in relation to this. So perhaps my anger at the media is misplaced.

Late Night

Jim Capozzola, RIP

I'm sure many of you remember Jim from the Rittenhouse Review. Sadly, he died this evening. Jim was an early co-conspirator from the early days of blogging, and he and his voice will be missed.

Evening Thread

Try to enjoy.

....Data:

A Disagree with Bush Decision to Commute Libby Prison Sentence: 21% of Americans familiar with the legal case involving former White House aide Scooter Libby agree with President Bush's decision to commute Libby's prison sentence, according to a SurveyUSA nationwide poll conducted immediately after the decision was announced. 1,500 Americans were surveyed. Of them, 825 were familiar with the Libby case. Only those familiar were asked to react to the President's action. 17% say Bush should have pardoned Libby completely. 60% say Bush should have left the judge's prison sentence in place. 32% of Republicans agree with the President's decision, compared to 14% of Democrats and 20% of Independents. 26% of Republicans say Libby should have been pardoned completely, compared to 21% of Independents and 8% of Democrats. Conservatives split evenly: 31% say Libby should have been pardoned. 35% say the judge's sentence should have been left in place. 31% agree with the President's decision to commute the prison sentence, but to leave the fine and conviction in place. Reaction to the President's decision may evolve over time. This poll attempts to measure a first reaction to the news, before many individuals would have had a chance to be influenced by political spin applied to the story.

100% of Washington pundits polled agreed with the statement: "This was the wisest and boldest move from this president yet."


...Kerry statement:

President Bush's eleventh hour commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence makes a mockery of the justice system and betrays the idea that all Americans are expected to be held accountable for their actions, even close friends of Vice President Cheney,” Senator Kerry said. “It's a tragedy that with young Americans paying the ultimate price in Iraq for this administration's mistakes, this White House continues to avoid accountability and reward deceit for their friends and supporters.

...Reid statement:

The President's decision to commute Mr. Libby's sentence is disgraceful. Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq War. Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone. Judge Walton correctly determined that Libby deserved to be imprisoned for lying about a matter of national security. The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own Vice President's Chief of Staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.

...Pelosi:

The President’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people.

The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the President shows his word is not to be believed. He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.

...Edwards:

Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world. In George Bush's America, it is apparently okay to misuse intelligence for political gain, mislead prosecutors and lie to the FBI. George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today.

...Dean:

Once again President Bush and the GOP have undermined a core American value: equal justice under the law for every American. By commuting this sentence, President Bush is sending a clear message that the rules don’t apply to the Bush White House or loyal Republican cronies. After promising that anyone who violated the law would be 'taken care of,' President Bush instead handed Scooter Libby a get out of jail free card. Though Libby was convicted by a jury of lying about a matter of national security, President Bush is sparing him the consequences ordinary Americans would face. This conviction was the first moment of justice in a Bush Administration void of accountability. It’s a sad day for America when the President once again puts protecting his friends ahead of equal justice under the law.

...Fitz:

We fully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative.

We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as “excessive.” The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.

Although the President’s decision eliminates Mr. Libby’s sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process.

...Clinton:

Today's decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration's politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.

Bush Justice

President Bush engages in ongoing obstruction of justice by commuting Scooter Libby's sentence.

And all of the Wise Men of Washington cheered.

Politely tell the White House what you think about this.

....WH has closed the comment line. We can call tomorrow.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Bring'em On

The Bushies make peace signs to celebrate.

Broke

Saint McCain only has $2 million cash on hand. Ouch.

Medicare

While it's apparently a club with some creepy members, I do tend to side with those who think incremental expansion of Medicare might be both the most pragmatic (most likely to get through the Senate) way of starting to fix our health care system as well as the method most likely to ultimately get us to a single payer system.


...adding, they should start by insuring all kids up to the age of 6 or whatever, and go from there...Yes, ideally, they'd just do it all at once...

Late

Senator Clinton is "running late."

50 Staffers

McCain adds 50 to the unemployment rolls. While I recognize modern presidential campaigns are rather large operations, the fact that he can lay off 50 and still presumably continue to operate means that... McCain had a lot of staffers.

Bright Hope

I'm here at Bright Hope Baptist Church for the ACORN candidate forum. Got my extra special press badge and everything. The schedule keeps changing, but I believe Clinton goes first, then Kucinich, then Edwards, after various local muckety mucks and others.


You can watch here.

Free Scooter!

Ooops, not so fast. Guess that conservative protection racket isn't quite what I thought. No bail for Scooter.

Laughable

Indeed, which was why I was mostly laughing. I'm not quite sure if the Nexis database of CNN transcripts from 1999 is comprehensive, but from what I could tell the London nail bomber, who wounded dozens of people and killed 3, got very little coverage at the time.

Heckuva Job, Bushie

Christy writes:

Honestly, what it sounds to me is that the President is wallowing around in the fact that other heads of state have also made mistakes in the past, without ever accepting the reality that it is his own mistakes that have led him to this point in his own history. How about accepting responsibility for your own failures, George?

That sounds about right. The brat has an obsession with former leaders who are TEH AWESOME but who also made mistakes, as well as former leaders who were not thought to be TEH AWESOME at the time but who now are.

In other words, even the greatest geniuses make mistakes, and even the most hated leaders can be just unrecognized geniuses who will be vindicated by the passage of time.

The frustrating thing is that I don't think our Very Serious Elites have come to terms with just how much they fucked up the world with their support for little George's grand Iraqi adventure. Instead they spend their time fretting about how unserious the dirty fucking hippies are.

ACORN

I'll be attending this candidate forum later today. Apparently you'll be able to watch on the internets, too.

But Where Did the Poop Come Out?

If Romney's doggy wind tunnel was enclosed with air vents then how exactly did the dog poop slide down the back window?

Wanker of the Day

Michael Gordon.

Brought

4 years since George Bush said "bring'em on," approximately 3370 US troops have been killed in Iraq. I remember when pundits would spend hours being amazed that Clinton could "compartmentalize" and actually run the country as they spent all their hours talking about blowjobs. What kind of mind can compartmentalize out the horror of Iraq and go fishing.

Narcissistic Child

I suppose everyone will take a whack at this article about the boy king, but I think the title of the post takes care of most of it.

Worst Terrorists Ever

I can't believe this crap is still on my teevee.

July

The month begins. This is 6 months after Bush's exciting "teh surge teh awesum!2!!@" speech, and six months after numerous very important persons got on the teevee and made it clear, yet again, that there was some cosmic significance about the next six monhts.


But they're all serious people and despite my best efforts they will continue to have prominent media platforms from which they can wax optimistic about... the next awesome 6 months in Iraq.

Late Night

Rock on.

Sunday Night Fun

Cooking some tasty varmints on the roof, so you're on your own.

Radio

On with Sam and others in a sec.

Tomorrow is a Very Special Day

Plan your Bring'Em On Day celebrations.

There are some who feel like -- that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on. We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.

While the crass stupidity of "bring them on" gets the attention, 3 4 years later it's obviously the last sentence which brings the point home.

Since No One Else Bothers To Remember

A mere two Friedmans ago Lieberman said he thought we could get out soon.

The three-term U.S. senator said he believes a complete withdrawal is possible by late 2007 or early 2008.

Now apparently the surge is working so well that won't be possible.

The Big Money

Though I'm impressed more by the # of donors than the actual total. Obama campaign:

I’m thrilled to report that in the last three months, the Obama campaign has set a new record for fundraising. Thanks to you, we raised at least $32.5 million including at least $31 million that we can spend on the battle for the Democratic nomination.

But as astonishing as that feat is, much more important is how we raised it.

To date, more than 258,000 Americans have contributed to this effort, much of it coming in small donations. This, too, shatters all records and sends an unmistakable message to the political establishment that the same old politics just won’t do in 2008.

Obviously the best course of action now is to spend it all on Blogads.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Wanker of the Day

Joe Lieberman.

Independents

Yglesias:

Many independents are actually partisans. Many others just have no idea what they're talking about. A few really do pay attention and swing anyway.

That's about right. An important point is that most "independents" don't come close to fulfilling their imagined role as "centrists," where centrism is defined as the Washington Elite Consensus.

Sunday Bobbleheads

Document the atrocities.

BC's "This Week" — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
CNN's "Late Edition" ( — Chertoff; House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; Lanny Davis, former Clinton special counsel; Ben Ginsberg, former counsel to the Republican National Committee; former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
"Fox News Sunday" — Chertoff; Michael Gallagher, conservative talk radio host; Mark Green of Air America Radio.

To-Do list

This is how much work we have to do.

(Via Suburban Guerrilla.)

Update: Actually, and in keeping with the Eschaton mission, check out this post about how the press is reacting to news that a reporter actually went undercover to investigate lobbyists.

(Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm Not Atrios, since the last time I linked to Susie here it caused all sorts of tsouris for Duncan.)