Shorter Tom Friedman

See my piece on Friedman’ s OpEd here. Which boot-camp are his daughters in?

also Billmon

The good news, of course, is that replicants don’t live very long, and Howie’s already past his pull date. The Post is about due for a replacement.

Blade Runner

Gimme That Old Time Religion

You have to admit: He’s got us coming and going. By insisting that the media cover the story of Bush’s illegal rush to aggressive war, we’ve demonstrated we’re just a bunch of unreasonable extremists peddling a paranoid conspiracy theory — one that "everybody" already knows is true.

True Lies

You know, I used to think this was just a little over the top: [pic] Now I don’t.

When Evil Empires Collide

Under the circumstances, the “bitter enders” could very well carry the day in any internal political debate within the community. War, even a protracted struggle that leaves Iraq in ruins (that is, in even more ruins) could be seen as preferable to a compromise peace that ultimately leaves the Sunnis (from their point of view) at the mercy of their enemies. And this might be true not just of the jihadis and the hard-line neo-Baathists, but of many non-ideological fighters and their popular supporters — exactly the people that have to be peeled away if a political solution is to work.

Throwing in the Towel

And Baby Makes Three

For some time now, one of my pet suspicions has been that the Pentagon’s psywar budget is also a hidden piggy bank and an R&D laboratory for the GOP’s own political propaganda operations.

Blowback

"Who cares for you?’ said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) "You’re nothing but a pack of cards!"

Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards

Maybe the Downing Street Memo (coupled with Bush’s sinking poll numbers) will be the cocktail that puts a little fire in the bellies of the Washington press corps. A few stiff belts of the truth seem to have encouraged Polman to stop pulling his punches anyway. More likely, the corporate drones at the top of the editorial pyramid will heed the voice of their master (Mammon) and simply close the bar — long before the timid nobodies at CNN or the henpecked husbands of CBS/NBC/ABC ever get their hands on a drop of the good stuff.

Hard Evidence

Works for me.

Getting It

Now if the New York Times would put one-tenth the time and resources into reporting the exposure of the Iraq lies as it did into reporting those same lies before, during and for a ridiculously long time after the Iraq invasion, we might actually get somewhere.

Downing Street Memo II

Welcome Wingnuts

by Bernhard

If any wingnuts wonders what this site is about (hint: it is not Billmon’s site), they may want to read the About page.
Billmon, in his above linked post on his site, linked to some of his pieces. Discussions related to those pieces are here, here, here and here.

Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Napoleon better watch out — they may have to make some room in the pantheon for der Field Marshal . . .

The Flytrap

Awhile back Steve Gilliard chided me for referring to reconstructed Iraqi army as “the New ARVN.” I beginning to see his point: ARVN would have mopped the floor with this lot.

Saddam’s Song

Ralph’s Solutions

This is about winning, in other words, not about getting angry or hurling feces at the media (as tempting as that may sound.) Bashing Republicans and conservatives is great for rallying the base and boosting morale. It’s also fun — and we have to make the work fun or nobody will want to do it. But the goal isn’t to have fun, the goal is to win. Partisan rhetoric is a means to that end. As a leader of the Democratic Party – and the most popular figure in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party — Dean has a special obligation to keep that in mind.

Howard’s End and A Clarification (added June 10, 4:20pm)

The truth […] is that the overwhelming majority of the American people probably don’t give a flying fuck whether the war was started under false pretenses, or in violation of international law — or even that impeachable offenses may have been committed under U.S. law. All they know is that Saddam was a bad guy (right out of central casting, in fact) and that we’re always the good guys, which means the United States had every right to invade Iraq and overthrow its government.

Downing Street Redux

"Having the President on your side in a major litigation battle with the Justice Department: Priceless."

Mastering the Possibilities

… Result: Social Security "reform" dies a bipartisan death, Bush and the GOP Congress look like the miserable failures they are and the Dems are free to beat on the Republicans like a bass drum in next year’s election for leading the country into such an ill-conceived fiasco.

The Straight Shooter

I said Monday the Democrats need blowtorches like Dean, and I still think it’s true. But they don’t need one who burns off his own foot every time he flames up. Sure the GOP is monolithic — not to mention monochromatic — and getting more so all the time. But Dean really did sound like he was dissing white Christians (approximately 60% of the electorate.) At the least, it’s extremely easy for the Dean haters to spin it that way.

Dizzy Dean