So much News So little time.
Pentagon Cancels Release of Report that finds Iraq had no link to Al Qaeda.
"An exhaustive Pentagon review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network."
This is not news to me, Al Qaeda hated Saddam, they wanted to overthrow the bastard to have a chance at religious theocracy in Iraq. Bush wanted to link these two bad guys to have a justification to invade Iraq on a wave of post 911 blood-thirstiness. And it worked, when we invaded 70% of the country thought Saddam was "personally involved" in the 911 attacks,
even though there were no Iraqis on the planes, but Americans didn't get that either. Propaganda anyone? Stop taking what politicians say in a speach as the official fact. Especially when we're talking about war. *cough* Iran *cough*
If I knew there was no link, Why didn't Hillary Clinton? "(Saddam) has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001." - Clinton October 10, 2002
Anyway, the report, with the obvious conclusion, finally coming from the Pentagon, is not going to be quite as public anymore.
If they don't talk about it, maybe it will just go away right?
Put that together with the fact that almost 4,000 of our soldiers have died in Iraq alone, many more wounded. Fighting for our.. um.. what.. our right to tell other nations what to do? I'm not sure anymore.
And we've been there for 5 years on March 19,
And it's costing us 12 Billion per month
and over 3 trillion so far, 50 times more than the 60 billion predicted in 2003,
Add that to higher oil prices, stronger terrorist networks, and a less stable world, and a less safe USA, and you might want to... oh I don't know Impeach the President!
Deep Breath... next
The Iraq War is only 2% of media coverage.
No news is Good news... for the bush administration and McCain at least, if we don't hear about Iraq it must be going great. A perfect time to cancel the release of the Pentagon Report so Iraq doesn't become news again. The lack of media coverage is partly to blame for the fact that only 20% of Americans know we're about to hit 4,000 dead in Iraq
At least I'm talking about Iraq here right? I'm doing my part.
Admiral Fallon, the top US commander for the Middle East Abruptly Resigns.
Who is this guy? Probably the highest ranking officers in position of power trying to talk sense into a bush administration hell bent on World War III. You know telling Bush it would be a bad idea to bomb Iran.
What? We'll be greeted as liberators! More Kool-Aid Please.
Quoting Fallon
"This constant drumbeat of conflict ... is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions." What America needs, Fallon says, is a "combination of strength and willingness to engage."
Bush Quote Instead
"Like al Qaeda and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime has clear aims: They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East. To achieve these aims, they are funding and arming terrorist groups like Hezbollah, which allow them to attack Israel and America by proxy."
Talking trash and telling countries they are pert of the "Axis of Evil", and we might bomb their country if we feel like it, doesn't help anybody, every time bush gets on the TV and threatens Iran it makes us less safe.
Read more about Fallon resigning
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Presidential Politics.
The math is against Clinton, she needs about 64% in all states to overtake Obama, not happening.
The only way she can win is if the super-delegates appoint her at the convention, against the will of the people. That sounds pretty terrible right, we have all kinds of young people voting for the first time, huge turnout, new grassroots networks, and millions of people believing that if they vote, they can take back the government. Protesting in the streets didn't work, but maybe voting will, that's how everyone tells us democracy works right?
But the Democratic party could just say, thanks for your opinion, I know you spent months of your life working for this candidate, but you can't have him. You don't know what the hell your doing, let us take care of the government, you're too stupid to be trusted with that kind of power.
The Democratic party has no desire to snub their voters at a time like this. I know it was supposed to be Clinton's turn to be president, sorry, I'd like to see a woman president too. But Barrack Obama is just a better candidate.
But Clinton is counting on the super-delegates appointing her in the end. Probably the reason her campaign keeps mentioning Obama as a splendid Vice President, but a terrible Commander in Chief, like that makes any sense. But maybe, she can convince us that really it was her turn, but she will let Obama be VP.
Hillary Clinton and her campaign had a private meeting in DC with her big donors today "the clear message emerging from the presentations was that Hillary's success depends on the campaign's ability to
persuade the super-delegates that they should be considering three "data points," as this fundraiser puts it, in considering whom to back: The pledged delegate count, the popular vote, and the specific states won by each candidate."
I have bad news for Clinton, she's not winning the popular vote or the delegate count, and she's right that those things do matter.
I'm starting to think The Clintons really want their power back so they can get revenge on the Republicans for impeaching Bill Clinton, and going after him for all those years. They were a royal pain in the ass, and still are. I think the Clintons have their pockets full of smear tactics and venom that they were intending to use on the Republicans, but Obama has been getting their dirty tricks cause he got in the way.
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
Sorry.. I know this is long already and I wanted to get straight to the point here. What the fuck is that? And this woman hung around for an entire week before voluntarily resigning her post as a fundraiser for the Clinton campaign?
Obama has gotten to this point because he's black... funny, cause that didn't work for Jessie Jackson, or Al Sharpton... We've had a black presidential candidate almost every election for the past 30 years. But Ms. Geraldine Ferraro can say that crap and pretend it's fair, it's objective, it's just the truth nobody wants to admit right? No, it's a smear tactic, meant to win points with other racists. Obama got this far because he's a good candidate. Because he's run a good campaign, and risen above petty attacks like this.
And Hillary had this to say "It's regrettable that any of our supporters _ on both sides, because we both have this experience _ say things that kind of veer off into the personal." yea, take that, I love Black people.
On the Obama Campaign, an Staffer named Samantha Powers called Hillary a "Monster" and was gone the next morning. Hillary still has not condemned Ferraro's remark. Not to mention the Muslim thing that came from her campaign chair in Iowa, and the Drug Dealer thing, and the Obama doesn't know the words to the Pledge of Allegiance thing... yea real cool. If the truth doesn't work, make something up.
Olberman did his homework and found at least 3 occasions where Ferraro said the same crap about Obama. But the media is taking it out of context... sure they are. Interesting, the first time we herd about Ms. Ferraro this campaign season, she was calling Obama, Edwards, the Media, and the entire nation sexist for confronting Hillary.
Ok she may be right about the nation, and about Chris Matthews. But now that someone is calling her statements Racist, she thinks that the Obama Campaign
owes her an apology for calling her racist. And she's not even close to being sorry for what she said.
Here's Olbermann
"Senator Clinton Isn't A Republican, As Far As I Know"
't-a-r_b_91187.html
Found that title while looking for some sources for this entry it cracked me up. The title is a play on Hillary's response to the muslim garbage "there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know," she said on 60 minutes.
Anyway, there's all the news that's fit to bother me, for now.
Funny I just checked my email and MoveOn.org got pissed off about the same thing today. The letter from Clinton Donors to Nancy Pelosi. They put it this way;
"Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors are Threatening to stop supporting Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination.
It's the worst kind of insider politicsâ€" billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters."
Nah - Ron Paul is finished.
Sitting out! whoa not a good term. voting third party is one of the most bad-ass things you can do! I always vote third party, even if I vote for a Democrat it's usually on the Working Families line.
Anyone else wondering if Ron Paul is going to make a Libertarian run?
Cynthia McKinney??? Really? I need to start following my own party more closely. If she gets the nomination, looks like I'll be one of those people sitting out on this election.
I agree with you Josh. Hillary has been almost "Sybil-esque" in taking on whatever personality to get the night's soundbite. Lying about the Bosnian trip repeatedly is just the latest tidbit.
It's interesting watching them run out of things to talk about. After almost a year of campaigning before the primary season began, both are grasping at straws and Hillary especially is saying whatever (Witness yesterday's hopping on the Rev Wright bandwagon) happens to suit that day.
I'm toying with the idea that the Clintons want revenge on the Republicans for how they tortured and impeached Bill when he was in office.
I think once we got to the general debates Clinton supporters would end up voting for Obama, when him and McCain are next to each other, they'll see the difference.
Some of Limbaugh's republicans might have voted for Clinton instead of McCain, but they can stay home instead, not sure.
A lot of Obama supporters on the other hand, especially if there's an undemocratic convention upset, they will stay home or vote third party. We're talking about a couple hundred thousand refusing to vote for the lesser of two evils in every state, I'm just making that number up, but there would be a huge turnout difference. Watch, if Obama is the nominee, record breaking turnout numbers.
Cynthia McKinney is probably going to be the Green Party nominee too, she would definitely take a chunk of the vote against Hillary.
What is said about Hillary Clinton is true. She is willing to do whatever it takes, and if that means fracturing the party even more than it already is and making the Convention unworkable, then so be it. She and Bill think they have a divine right to be back in the White House, are watching a dream slip away right before their eyes - bottom line, they are pissed off. Even the surrogate Clintonoids are angry - Carville is a disgrace for calling Richardson "Judas."
More and more information is coming out suggesting that if Obama wins, Clinton supporters will vote McCain, and if Clinton wins, Obama supporters will either stay home or vote third party. Based on the Democrat on Democrat vitriol I've read and heard over the past few months I am not surprised if this would turn out to be the case. All partisanship aside, I'm astonished at the infighting the Democrats are doing.
Honestly, if I were a betting man I would put my dough on this ending a tad ugly.