A top U.S. general said Tuesday there was no evidence the Iranian government was supplying Iraqi insurgents with highly lethal roadside bombs, apparently contradicting claims by other U.S. military and administration officials.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces hunting down militant networks that produced roadside bombs had arrested Iranians and that some of the material used in the devices were made in Iran.
“That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this,” Pace told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. “What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers.”
Now, this didn’t just happen. Something’s afoot and it sounds like the generals are doing everything they possibly can to avoid Bush starting an utterly catastrophic war with Iran.
To say the least, the Bush presidency has provided an occasion for strange bedfellows. An American right wing lunatic, Dinesh D’Sousa, all but comes out and says that bin Laden had the right idea to attack the corrupt, materialistic, America. And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs may be marching with the rest of us in the reality-based community at the next protest rally.
On second thought, these bedfellows aren’t so strange after all. The kind of fanatical Islamism that bin Laden’s all about is at its heart a totalitarian doctrine, so it stands to reason it would appeal to America’s anti-liberal fascists. And it also stands to reason that a truly professional military commander knows better than to go marching off to war for no fucking reason at all.
This is blasphemy hereabouts, but I have to agree with BC over at Cliff Schecter’s place: I support Joe Lieberman. Yes, I know this is a shock, and many of you must be thinking I’ve lost my mind. But when Holy Joe is right about something(a most unusual event), he’s right. Even if he doesn’t know it:
I want him to propose his “war tax” on the floor of the Senate.
I wrote a few days ago that Democrats need to make Republicans take tough votes, and none would be tougher than a vote on a war tax. Republicans would either have to vote to increase taxes (you might not have heard this, but Republicans generally don’t like to raise taxes) or they would have to vote against funding for the troops. They would have to choose between their so-called ethos or their b.s., Hannityesque flag waving rhetoric. Basically, a damned if you do (unless you’re Ted Haggard) or damned if you don’t scenario for the Repubs.
I would take it even further than BC recommends. I’d say:
“The working people of America have done all that was asked of them to support the troops. While struggling to keep up financially they sent their sons and daughters overseas when the president called. The wealthy, however, have not stepped up. They have benefitted from massive Republican tax cuts during a time that our troops have made do with inferior body armor and their families have had to apply for food stamps. It’s time to ask them to finally do their part to help pay for the war. It’s the patriotic thing to do.”
Make the Republicans defend their tax cuts for the wealthy as opposed to funding the troops. (Of course that requires that Democrats be willing to offend their rich contributors too…)
The truth is that we have no idea how much money has been thrown into the Iraq moneypit and there has been virtually no discussion of how this country is expected to pay for it. Politicians and pundits act as if this is some sort of taboo subject. We can have debates about torture but we can’t talk about the fact that this war is creating a massive debt while Paris Hilton and her friends party like it’s 1999. At dinner tables all over the country this topic is being discussed. It’s only in the halls of government that mentioning the cost of this endeavor is considered politically incorrect.
Obviously, it’s a fantasy that Joe Lieberman would actually take such as resolution to the floor. He’s much too beholden to his neocon brethren to take such a stand now. But it would be delicious if someone did it and used his speech as the basis for his or her argument.
But insofar as we’re talking about ideology, we should be clear. Clinton, like her husband, is both hated by the right and treated unfairly by the press and a not very liberal politician, coming from the party’s more centrist wing and flanked by advisors from the same. In a general election, she’d clearly be the progressive choice against Giuliani, McCain, Romney, etc. but is clearly the less progressive choice vis-a-vis Edwards and Obama. I don’t think the fact that she’s mistreated by the press should distract people from this basic point.
That’s true and I can’t argue with it. And his analysis about the liberal positioning of the candidates seems right to me too, a fact which we must keep in mind as we begin to engage the substance of the primary race.
But neither should we ever forget that Clinton Rules apply to all Democrats if they become a threat and, therefore, they should be fought wherever we find it. Nobody can say that the Clinton Rules weren’t in effect against Gore and Kerry too. (Hint: it’s the trivial tabloid smearing and breathless psycho-sexual armchair analysis that’s the tip-off.)
The Rules are named for the Clintons because they were the first successful, high profile baby boomer Democratic leaders to hold high office and so were the first to be subject to it. But if it hadn’t been them it would have been someone else because they developed less because of the politicians than because of changes in the media landscape. Although the Democratic narrative was cooked up a long time ago it was during the Clinton years the right wing noise machine learned how to feed a new generation of ratings hungry, 24/7 news media the nasty little tid-bits that allow them to cover politics like celebrity gossip.
Primary season is always a test for Democrats who are tempted to take advantage when the media uses it against a primary opponent. You can certainly understand that — it’s human nature and people are in it to win. But I think it’s a big mistake. That is not to say that they shouldn’t fight hard for the nomination. But there is a difference between using the media to regurgitate patented rightwing cant and employing legitimate tough politics.
Democrats should hang together on this one issue. They’ll all benefit in the long run. As a blogger, I’m going to continue to call out the media when they do this regardless of my personal feelings about the candidate. Until this cycle is broken all Democrats are going to be subject to the trivialization, character smears and biased coverage that comes with a shallow, sophomoric political press in a Republican establishment town.
Update: I should make clear that I’m not chastising Yglesias here. He was making a separate point, which is eminently reasonable.
Update II:Here’s Eric Boehlert with an anatomy of a patented Clinton Rules smear job.
The old daguerreotype didn’t sell, so it would appear the smart money doesn’t believe its subject can be adequately authenticated. For those interested, there were nice discussions at Amanda’s place, and Melissa’s too.
I still believe the photo is Lincoln. Many agreed, but many also believed the opposite, some of them declaring with certainty that it is not him. To them I would say that with the known information, it is just as impossible to definitively prove it isn’t Lincoln as it is to prove that it is. Maybe someday more information will surface to tip the evidence one way or the other.
UPDATE: Check out roberto’s latest effort with regard to the alignment of Lincoln’s eyes and the overlay of one image on top of the other.
Says he:
“I wasn’t sure how valuable that would be — the two sets of eyes being very similar to one another. But it proved to be a fairly interesting exercise.
In order to exactly align the pupils, I had to scale the “fake” Lincoln head and rotate it 4.5% counter clockwise. When the image was overlaid on the body of the real Lincoln, the head appeared as being too small for the body. This disproportion was even more apparent when a Difference blending mode was applied.
So, using the eyes as a rather good comparative measure, I believe Lincoln’s had a rather large head, and certainly a much larger one than that of the fake Lincoln.“
Click on the image to enlarge it. The results of the experiment can also be seen at roberto’s studio.
Are there other artisan’s out there who can comment on whether the technique roberto used is properly taking into account left-right camera angle, height of camera compared to subject, image distance from camera, head tilt left-right, forward-back, and so forth? What roberto has done seems reasonable to me, but you know how easily I can be snowed. Also, am I getting it wrong that once the head size is adjusted to be the same, and the eyes aligned, the ears line up almost exactly with the authenticated Lincoln?
In January, digby linked to a question Charles Schumer asked: “What are the eight words that will save the Democratic Party?”
In the comments, I said, “Here’s eight words and a number: “Burton was absent for all 19 votes this week,” and linked to this article:
WASHINGTON — Rep. Dan Burton missed all U.S. House action this week, and his office declined to say where the Indianapolis Republican is.
Burton did not participate in any of the 19 floor votes in the House, including votes on measures to cut the interest rate for some student loans and repeal a tax break for oil and gas companies.The House Foreign Relations Committee, on which Burton is a top Republican, held hearings on Iraq and North Korea.
The question of Burton’s whereabouts was answered last evening (scroll down), and for those who asked, Ray Romano was his partner.
Being a U.S. Congressmen isn’t easy. You put your reputation on the line, day after day. You sometimes have to spend as many as three days a week doing your job. You have to live off a paltry salary of just $165,000 a year (not counting bribes). … According to IndyStar.com, Burton skipped 19 House votes, including measures to reduce college costs and cut oil industry tax breaks, so he could play in a golf tournament last month in Palm Springs, Calif. Burton also missed hearings on Iraq and North Korea so he could play in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic with big-time celebrities like Ray Romano.
At the risk of sounding absolutely disgusting, I have to say that Burton is SCUM.
But, really, Burton’s almost nothing compared to the dumber Representative who got left behind, Eric Cantor (R-Nutball-VA):
MATTHEWS: How many wars are we going to have to fight in our lifetime? You want to go to war with Iran now?
CANTOR: I’m not saying we should take anything off the table.
MATTHEWS: Do you think we should go to war with Iran?
CANTOR: I don’t think that’s responsible for to us take that option off the table right now.
MATTHEWS: I’m asking you, do you think we should go to war? Yes or no?
CANTOR: I think all options including the military option should be left on the table.
MATTHEWS: This isn’t an option question. This isn’t multiple choice.
Right now, February 8, 2007, do you believe we should go to war with Iran?
CANTOR: I’ll leave that decision up to the commanders on the ground and those in our military …
Matthews is visibly taken aback.
MATTHEWS [straining]: Commanders on the ground … whether we go to war with another country?
CANTOR: I will leave the decisions in the military arena to — this is exactly the point.
MATTHEWS: This is Barry Goldwater talking. He used to say that.
Regional commanders can decide whether we want it use nuclear weapons. You’re obviously saying soldiers should decide which country to go to war with.
CANTOR: I’m here to say the military experts are those which might come up with the recommendation to the commander in chief that makes the decision. It is silly for us to expect.
MATTHEWS: I’m not talking – I just asked you a very simple question.
CANTOR: We’re going 535 commanders in chief –
Matthews is incredulous … Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) tries to spoon-feed the answer to Cantor:
MATTHEWS: I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life. Never in my life.
ISRAEL: Congress has a constitutional responsibility to decide whether we’re going to war or not. That’s what we’re elected to do. Those are the debates we should have.
CANTOR: Every president since –
MATTHEWS: The idea of declaring war as a soldier is unimaginable.
We’ll be right back to talk HARDBALL with the two congressmen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. We’re back with Republican Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia and Democratic Congressman Steve Israel of New York.
Let me ask you Congressman Cantor, very clearly, to clear up our discussion, if the U.S. Congress were to discuss tomorrow morning whether to declare war on Iran, would you vote yay?
CANTOR: This congress is not going to do that because it’s the commander in chief’s role, Chris, and Steve knows that as well. It’s not Congress that will ask for that. It is the commander in chief that will make that decision. Every president whether republican or Republican or Democrat since the War Powers Act was in place has interpreted it as being the commander in chief’s role to do that.
MATTHEWS: Would you support the president if he declared war in Iran tomorrow morning? As things are right now.
CANTOR: I will support what is in the best interest of securing this homeland and providing our troops with what they need and if there is a threat on the ground in Iraq and in the region that our troops need us, I will support them and that’s exactly the point on this Iraqi resolution because the Democrats want to have their cake and eat it, too. This is a nonbinding resolution. It’s a sense of Congress. It doesn’t mean anything. In fact it pollutes the message and sends the wrong message to our troops.
MATTHEWS: Congressman Israel, what’s the role of Congress in war and peace?
ISRAEL: Congress under the Constitution of the United States authorizes war. The War Powers Act requires Congress to vote on whether we should insert troops into hostile situations. The law is clear.
CANTOR: Absolutely not.
ISRAEL: Come on, Eric.
CANTOR: As a commander in chief the constitution gives –
MATTHEWS: Congressman Cantor, why did the president ask for approval of Congress before he went to Iraq?
CANTOR: I certainly think his counsel gave him guidance why he need to do that but the Constitution gives the commander in chief the right to send our troops into battle.
MATTHEWS: Maybe when it comes to war we don’t need a Congress according to that.
$165k each year, and for life after they retire. I can’t wait to hear how pooter2x4 rationalizes on behalf of this pair of Republican nutballs.UPDATE: C & L has the dumber episode on video.
K-Drum writes about a colleague’s new book regarding the conservative tort reform crusade. Conservative hostility to liability laws has always been around, but “tort reform” as we know it was evidently one of those Grover Norquist specials where he rightly observed that trial lawyers tended to be Democratic contributors so going after them hard was a neat political two-fer.
But I’ve noticed for several election cycles now that Republican crowds go completely nuts whenever a candidate says the words “tort reform.” It’s always struck me as completely bizarre that they would have such an emotional reaction to such a dry issue. Does anyone know if it’s got some dogwhistle quality that I’m missing? Or is it just a recognizable applause line that mindless Republican robots get hysterical over without having a clue as to what it really means?
You know what is really powerful about the right wing? They are just so good at ratfucking and they take a lot of pride in their work:
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Secret Service detail has received a major boost, rising from three or four federal agents to as many as a dozen in recent weeks.
The increase, which followed Clinton’s formal entry into the 2008 presidential race on Jan. 20, was described as a “precaution,” given her position as a former first lady, according to sources cited by the New York Post.
But the Secret Service was notified when a blogger posted a rant on one of Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign Web sites calling for Clinton’s death.
The rant was addressed to Obama, a rival to Hillary for the 2008 Democratic nomination:
“You’re too black for whites and too white for blacks,” it read. “But please put up a good fight for us – and if you get a chance to shove a pillow over Hillary’s face and smother her to death before the primaries, 20 black-eyed virgins will wait on you in paradise.”
Let’s deconstruct that, shall we?
First Hillary is costing the taxpayers more and more money with a huge entourage of secret service. Just as Pelosi requiring security for her plane travel was a high handed request by a spoiled liberal from San Francisco, Clinton the Diva’s “precautions” are much too extravagant. Women.
Still, she is so unpopular that even Sodom Hussein Obama’s Muslim terrorist supporters hate her and want to kill her.
Obama’s evil followers aren’t sure about him either though, since he’s bi-racial, in case anyone had missed that. Both bigots and blacks should think twice about voting for him.
Oh, and both campaigns are bound to be suspicious that the other one is behind this shit, even if everyone denies it. Sweet.
It’s Hard Work by poputonian … for Mr. Subpoena, Congress’s finest:
U.S. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) this morning apologized for missing 19 votes to play in a golf tournament in January.
Burton, who has not responded to requests for comment, made his apology during an appearance on a conservative radio talk show in Indianapolis.
Burton told talk show host Greg Garrison that he made reservations to play in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic when Republicans were still in control of the House.
When Democrats took control, he did not expect them to schedule votes so early in the month. “I probably made a mistake,” he said.
He said, however, he hasn’t yet met the perfect person who hasn’t made any mistakes.
Burton missed votes to reduce college costs and cut oil industry tax breaks so he could play in the Palm Springs, Calif. golf tournament in January.
Burton also missed hearings on Iraq and North Korea to play in the event, which pairs top golfers with politicians and celebrities such as actor and director Clint Eastwood.
A review of House votes for the past decade shows the Indianapolis Republican has been absent every year votes coincided with the tournament: 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2001. This year in January, he missed a total of 20 out of 73 votes.
Subpoenas would be used only as a last result, Waxman said, taking a jab at a previous committee chairman, GOP Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, who led the committee during part of the Clinton administration.
“He issued a subpoena like most people write a letter,” Waxman said.
Be sure to check in at FDL. Emptywheel is liveblogging the Robert Novak testimony. Here’s a little tid bit that jumped out at me:
[Libby defense attorney] Wells: How did you come to be working on Wilson column
RN: Previous Sunday, alleged attempt by Iraq to buy yellowcake from Niger, he had written op-ed, he was on MTP, I happened to be on roundtable and came in contact with him, had been interested in story, became more interested in it, and whether Pres had ignored report in opting for invasion of Iraq.
Later this:
Fitz: First meeting with Wilson
RN On MTP. The day of his op-ed.
F: You did not become fast friends.
RN: We did not exchange words. Most people in the green room quietly read. He was giving his opinion at some length about how things were done in the Clinton NSC, in a very loud voice, I thought that was an obnoxious performance.
F: Did you share that experience with Rove that week.
RN: I might have.
Far be for me to infer that Novak and Rove might have colluded. (And it doesn’t appear to be a crime, if they did.) But it should be a political scandal that ruins Bob Novak’s “reputation” as any sort of reliable journalist.
In one White House conversation, investigators have learned, Rove was asked why he was focused so intently on discrediting the former diplomat.
“He’s a Democrat,” Rove said, citing Wilson’s campaign contributions. By that time, Wilson had begun advising Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign.
Let’s not forget the Rove dimension in all this. He may not have committed a crime because he may not have known that Plame was undercover. And Fitzgerald ultimately decided that he couldn’t prove lied under oath. But he most certainly was in on the smear job with Cheney and his motive wasn’t even covering his own ass. His motive was simple character assasination of a Democrat. It’s what he does.
Thunderous explosions and dense black smoke swirled through the center of Baghdad Monday when at least two car bombs — one parked in an underground garage — tore through a crowded marketplace, setting off dozens of secondary explosions and killing at least 71 people, police said. Another bombing nearby killed at least nine.
