"Surge and Accelerate": A Note on the Republican-Democrat Support Axis
During his latest firey excoriation of Mr. Bush, Mr. Olberman took several opportunities to strongly criticize John McCain, who has publicly stated his support for the troop surge. A brief cut-away during Olberman's message showed footage of Sen. McCain standing at a podium with five other people. That film was shot in Baghdad several weeks ago during a congressional fact-finding mission. The still-frame below shows some of the participating members of Congress at a news conference held during the trip. Sen. McCain is at the podium making clear his support for sending more U.S. soldiers to the war-wracked nation.
The woman on the far left in the frame is Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who aligned herself with a number of other Republicans in declaring her opposition to sending more troops to Iraq, although Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), seen in the frame immediately to the right of McCain, expressed both his shock at how much the security situation in Baghdad had deteriorated and his full backing for sending more soldiers there.
The man standing between Collins and McCain is Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), who was quoted in a Washington Post article as saying, "We need more, not less, U.S. troops here [in Iraq]." In favoring the troop surge, Sen. Lieberman has distinguished himself as one of the few remaining ostensibly "liberal" or even "moderate" politicians in Washington publicly supporting what Mr. Olberman of MSNBC describes as a war initiated by a "...President [who] does not have any idea what he's doing - and [for whom] other Americans will have to die."
Given Sen. Lieberman's abandonment of the Democratic Party and his long-standing and very visible support for President Bush on matters of national security, the Connecticut Senator's alliance with McCain on escalating the American-Iraqi War may fuel speculation of a McCain-Lieberman "national unity" Presidential ticket in 2008, which would afford the American people a clear opportunity to elect yet another President and Vice President for whom other Americans would have to die.
The Dark Wraith will leave to readers such conclusions as may be warranted about Sen. Lieberman's continuing ties to an increasingly marginalized wing of the GOP.
Published 1/03/2007 11:49:00 AM
<< 24 Comments Total
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
I too, was heartened and cheered by the resolute verbal thumping that was given to the preznit. I don't even believe for a second that it will accomplish anything beyond letting me know that I am at least, not alone.
Lieberman has ceased to be a voice for anything resembling the democratic party. He, like McCain, will sacrifice any ideal, belief, family member, or what ever else is demanded by the jealous god of ambition.
Barring a revolt of the general staff (not bloody likely, they had to give too many blowjobs for that third and fourth star, some of them actually like the taste), the "surge" will go through.
The mess in Iraq will continue to get worse, until it reaches a point where it can't worsen any further, then it will either expand regionally or just stay batshit crazy bad.
I am glad to be home, out far in the sticks. I'm thinking about planting a cactus fence. If nothing else it will keep my eyes and ears away from the tube for a while. When that's done I plan to learn how to play my new bagpipes.
Oh my, I'm in good company here with the minstrel boy.
I wonder why Lieberman was the only dem on that trip. Well, as much of a dem as he is. I wouldn't be surprised to see McCain ask him to be on his ticket with him. If this surge doesn't produce something positive and fast, McCain is dead in the water. More troops is his only talking point and if more troops are sent with no good out come, what's left for McCain to talk about?
Good afternoon, Pissed Off Patricia.
Maybe they'll suggest still more troops when it doesn't work this time.
John and Joe seem to be from the George W. Bush Construction School of Nation Building: When you've hit your thumb with a hammer, hitting it some more will surely produce a result other than more pain.
The Dark Wraith suspects they'll never get around to hitting the nail on the head.
DW,
They are hoping the thumb becomes numb.
Wasn't it Colbert who said "what I believe on Monday regardless of what happens on Tuesday I will still believe on Wednesday" refering to the shrub at the last National Press Club howdown?
Wasn't it General Shinseki(sp?) who said at the beginning of this clusterfuck that we would need 400,000 troops to carry it out, for which he was retired?
Is their anything at all that the shrub has ever done that actually made sense and enhanced anyone's life?
This idiot has taken at least a month to avoid coming to a rational decision about his very own stinking pile of shit excuse for a foriegn policy.
But then he's the "decider". I really can't stand it when I am absolutely sure that I am more intelligent than the moron in the White House. In my lifetime that's happened twice, I leave everyone to guess who #2 is. Duh!
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith,
Is their anything at all that the shrub has ever done that actually made sense and enhanced anyone's life?
Uh, NO!
I think that if a bullet with the inscription "George W Bush" found it's mark, a whole lot of people would stand up and cheer. (I can dream, can't I)
But, cancel cancel cancel that, I have no wish for any bad karma from wishing that THAT piece of crap be taken out with the garbage.
heh
Lieberman
* gosh we worked so hard to defeat him *
I can only hope that he makes himself irrelevent by sticking close to Bushco and McCain.
SB_Gypsy,
I only hope that WHEN the new draft comes, the Connecticut parents that made the decision to keep Lieberman are as understanding and offer their children first.
And to all the Yalies(sp?) that supported him, there's always the peace corps, like you guys used in the 60s.
Old soldiers never die...
Dark Wraith, you asked at my blog if I noticed this morsel and I most certainly did notice Lieberman there and I have noticed him hanging out with the most vile of the Republicans a lot lately.
Know what else I noticed? I noticed that John McCain has some ugly MF tumor growing out of the side of his face. It is very hard to look at him. He looks like he was in a fight with his dentist. When I had a wisdom tooth extracted many years ago, the side of my face swelled up like that for a few days. McCain has had this for some time now. Is he healthy enough to run for president? Is it cruel of me to suggest that he is too scary looking to run for president? He's also got some sort of red blotchy thing happening by his eye on the swollen part of his face. Shouldn't he be seeing a doctor rather than acting like he knows anything about running a war?
Good evening, Liz.
I, too, have seen a marked change in Sen. McCain's physical appearance in the past year. What struck me about him even a couple of years ago was how vital he looked for a man of his age. Now, however, he no longer has that strong appearance that made him stand out in a crowd of contenders, and his unique physical characteristics—the heavy jaw, the skin tone, the muscular stoutness—are starting to stand out not as curiously attractive, but more as something else.
He'll turn 72 right around the time of the Republican National Convention in 2008; if nominated, he would face a fiercely high-energy fight if his opponent were Clinton or even Obama. The campaign would be lower key if he were to face Edwards or Clark, but even their possible Presidential campaigns, in my judgment, would tax him greatly, meaning he would have to rely upon his running mate. If the running mate were Joseph Lieberman, that would be disastrous: Lieberman was able to pull it out (as I predicted he would) in Connecticut with his base of financial and logistical support, but his attachment at the hip to Bush would be a lightning rod for negative campaign ads in a national campaign, especially if, as I suspect will happen, Bush becomes vulnerable to being cast as a pariah.
McCain can get by with his attachment to DUH-bya because McCain has created and maintained a mythical aura nationally of "independence," undeserved as it is, whereas Lieberman's efforts to carve out the same image are largely a failure, a failure we in the Blogosphere can ensure is such.
Cripe, Liz, 2007 is only three days old, and already I'm doing punditry for the Presidential race of 2008.
The Dark Wraith should try to get through the current year before focusing too much on the year that's still almost a year away.
Hello Dark Wraith--interesting comment on the McCain pic. I was more interested in what Olbermann was saying in his special comment, rather than looking at who McCain was with in the file video. Now you've got me wondering who the the individual is standing to the far right, next to Graham.
Vanity Fair had published a fascinating article regarding McCain and his current problem of pandering to the extreme right for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, while at the same time trying to appear as a maverick politician to the moderate and independent voters. To quote from the Vanity Fair article:
John McCain has spent this whole day, this whole year, these whole last six years, trying to "fix it," trying to square the circle: that is, trying to make the maverick, freethinking impulses that first made him into a political star somehow compatible with the suck-it-up adherence to the orthodoxies required of a Republican presidential front-runner. McCain opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but supports a ballot measure that would do just that in his home state of Arizona. (It would fail in the midterm elections.) His short-term reward for the Hardball bunt on gay marriage? Boos from the audience and a headline on the Drudge Report, the right wing's favorite screechy early-warning system, reading, mccain: gay marriage should be allowed? McCain needs to square that circle, and the hell of it is, he just can't.
[....]
"Let me give you a little straight talk," McCain tells the crowd at a house-party fund-raiser in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for Senator John Thune, the Christian conservative and self-styled "servant leader" who defeated the Senate's Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, in 2004. The minute Thune was elected, McCain says, he became an important figure in the Republican Party and the Senate.
That's not straight talk. That's partisan pap. Nor, presumably, was it straight talk last summer at an Aspen Institute discussion when McCain struggled to articulate his position on the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. At first, according to two people who were present, McCain said he believed that intelligent design, which proponents portray as a more intellectually respectable version of biblical creationism, should be taught in science classes. But then, in the face of intense skepticism from his listeners, he kept modifying his views—going into reverse evolution.
"Yes, he's a social conservative, but his heart isn't in this stuff," one former aide told me, referring to McCain's instinctual unwillingness to impose on others his personal views about issues such as religion, sexuality, and abortion. "But he has to pretend [that it is], and he's not a good enough actor to pull it off. He just can't fake it well enough."
It is just amazing how McCain will put his own selfish, personal ambitions above any sense of honesty and dignity, in order to win the 2008 White House. McCain was trying to pretend that he has personal views regarding social issues, and that he was faking those views in order to court votes? The hypocrisy of McCain is astounding here--and we haven't even started the 2008 presidential elections yet.
And as for Lieberman, I'm not sure if I want to call Lieberman a "carpetbagger," or a leech.
Good evening, Eric.
The man on the far right is Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois. I am beginning to wonder, however, about whether I've got the man on the immediate right of McCain correct: that could be South Dakota's Sen. Thune. There's a fellow standing behind McCain, and if the man on the immediate right of McCain is Thune, then the one behind McCain is Graham. Or it could be that I have Graham correctly identified, and the guy behind McCain is Thune.
Grr. Stupid low-res frame capture.
Anyway, the delegation comprised McCain, Thune, Graham, Collins, and Lieberman, the last person in the list being the only Independent/former Democrat, attached as he is to the left hip of McCain where he's going to stay until McCain names him as the running mate on the national unity ticket.
We'll know if that forecast is accurate if Lieberman really does show up in more and more pictures of McCain over the coming months. The two of them have supposedly been best buddies for years, or so Lieberman's spin machine is making it sound these days, so it looks to me like the machinery is building—at least from Lieberman's end—for this to be a fait accompli by the Spring of 2008.
The wild card is McCain. Lieberman is a leech who's trying to attach himself to what he thinks is a White House-bound freight train, but McCain seems to be a whole lot cooler on getting boxed in so quickly. If Iraq turns into a fiasco that even the Right-wing nuts can't deny, then McCain hasn't a prayer of getting the GOP nod unless he puts someone on his ticket who wasn't so hot and bothered about this "surge and accelerate" idiocy, and Lieberman most definitely wouldn't fill the bill, being as he is nothing more than a vessel for whatever stupidity the Bush Administration pumps into his empty noggin.
Geez, Eric, I'm doing the 2008 prognostications thing again.
The Dark Wraith needs to lay off the Future Schlock kick and focus on the here and now.
Ah yes, Mr. Thune.
From the Rapid City Journal of '05 (July, I think):
Auto dealer's future unclear
"Faltering finances and legal action have all but destroyed Dan Nelson Automotive Group Inc., which was headquartered in Sioux Falls and operated car dealerships there, in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as in Rapid City.
"And now it could produce political fallout for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a close friend and political ally of Nelson. Before his election to the Senate in a historic win over incumbent Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., last November, Thune sat on the board of directors of a Sioux Falls bank that granted millions of dollars in loans to Nelson Automotive. MetaBank, formerly First Federal Bank, is now trying to collect those defaulted loans in the bankruptcy proceedings."
Hit the link for the full article and ask, "Would you buy a used car from this man"?
I don't think the tall man looks like Graham. That face is too drawn & narrow.
I decided some time ago that Lieberman's life would have been far, far better spent in Vietnam than protesting against it. Had he done so he would have a much better sense of the importance of only sending the military into conflicts that matter. He's cluelessness regarding Iraq is so stunning I don't have words to describe it.
I just finished watching Olberman's piece. It's glorious...... (But why is it even necessary for such a thing to be uttered?????)
Anyway.....
(Sob.......)
Regarding McCain, someone (at Shakespeare's Sister, I think, but I don't remember for certain now) observed a week or two ago that the weakness in his character that the North Vietnamese sought but never found has at last been exposed. The inner integrity McCain would not yield up to torture he has at last yielded up on the altar of his political ambition.
What a shame..............
He's the only presidential candidate I can recall ever saying the truth about the theocrats of his party, and now he's in thrall to them......
- oddjob
(HIS cluelessness........)
- oddjob
Lieberman didn't even register "his" CT party...
Orman, Party of one:
The Connecticut for Lieberman Party, the minor political party created by Sen. Joe Lieberman for his successful independent bid for re-election, has been taken over by a longtime critic of the senator.
Fairfield University political science professor John Orman's takeover has been recognized by Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
Orman is the sole member of the party and filed paperwork with Bysiewicz's office naming himself chairman. The state officials accepted Orman's takeover and his bylaws which limit membership to critics of the senator and anyone named Lieberman.
(*snicker*)
Grrrr. I couldn't stand that Thune guy. I saw him "debate" Dashle on Cheat the Press and he was utterly useless and had NOTHING to say. He should definitely be voted out of office as soon as possible.
So Dark One, I wasn't the only one who noticed how old and feeble and rather deformed McCain was looking lately. That is what happens when greed and power mongering invades your every cell. I'd sure like to know what that growth is on the side of his face. I think it's Alien.
The deformity is what happens when you tell everyone you're going to commit suice in November if the Democrats win and then you don't. You start looking like death warmed over.
Lieberman's face looks like it's melting lately- again, death warmed over. "Help me, I'm melting."
John Kerry also looked like he was melting until he had some work done.
Interesting how insincere and greedy intentions affect the faces of politicians.
Good afternoon Mr. Wraith,
You once used the term hoe handle. I can think of no better example to apply that term to at the moment than John McCain.
The Goal: Keep troops in Iraq for as long as possible
The Evidence: Permanent military Installations and a Vatican-Sized Embassy
The Precident: Europe and Japan after WW2 have troops to this day as does South Korea
Bush's Political Volley: Come out swinging with a new Jack&Spew plan to send MORE troops to Iraq.
Outcome: Dems caught off-balance now scrambling to do anything to stop Bush's opening gambit.
Conclusion: Whether or not more troops go to Iraq, Bush wins. We won't be getting out of Iraq for at least 12 months+
By opening a volley with "sending more troops" Bush has effectively neutralized what was the growing chorus of pundits who were starting to entertain the idea of getting out of Iraq asap.
Solution: Adopt the Kucinich plan and get out of Iraq in 60 days and cut off funding for the occupation of Iraq. Consider redeploying troops to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan so we can perhaps effectively prosecute the GWOT against actual terrorist organizations.
Odds of happening: zero
Good afternoon, Mr. Goat.
Yes, for years I have used the noun "hoe handle" to describe a person of less-than-stellar mind.
I should, however, point out that the term must be inflected to the particulars of the individual. In the case of a person who sells himself out to sleazy people for power and money, the spelling isn't hoe handle; it is, instead, ho' handle.
The Dark Wraith maintains the integrity of the written language.
Dark One, have you seen this post at RawStory yet?
Most odd, no? An admiral????
- oddjob (who is perplexed, except obviously the guy is willing to polish the right nobs, but still)
Yes, OddJob, an admiral (of all things).
This is another one of Bush's displays of intolerance for any hint of disagreement with his decisions (or proto-decisions) by military commanders. Casey and Abizaid had the gall to slightly hint that other options might be better, but by the end of last year, what we were hearing from the White House was that Bush was being "asked" for more troops in Iraq. He wants public yes-men in uniforms around him, and he doesn't even particularly like to have them disagree with him in private.
He has a deep flaw in his leadership character that way (as have a few other Presidents, I should point out), and I suspect it goes all the way back to his Playboy-Flyboy days in the toy room of the Texas ANG.
(Dear God, would I love to put that little wuss in real combat gear in real field training for a couple of weeks in the middle of B-F Nowhere with nothing but ticks and leeches to suck on him.)
The Dark Wraith should stop before his nostrils set off the smoke detectors.
He has a deep flaw in his leadership character that way (as have a few other Presidents, I should point out), and I suspect it goes all the way back to his Playboy-Flyboy days in the toy room of the Texas ANG.
?
Nonsense. That kind of leadership flaw goes back to the family he was raised in.
- oddjob (who simply can't wait until the nation is as tired as he is and has been since about 1990 of people with the last name of Bush!)
Good evening, OddJob.
Although I do admit that my belief in this regard is somewhat simplistic, it is my judgment (based in part on people with whom I have interacted) that a toad like George W. Bush who grew up in privilege would have benefited greatly from getting his ass beaten into mush in a real military stint.
Although he would still have been a toad his whole remaining life, he would have been a toad who knew what it was like to have his face in the mud. As it was, he got nothing from his service gig but another little feather for his resume.
Call me old-fashioned (and, yes, I really am old-fashioned), but I believe that even an unruly Bush that's gone to Hell for 18 years can be trimmed.
All you need is a big enough chainsaw.
The Dark Wraith practices gardening without much regard for the feelings of the uglier of the plants in his care.
Your point is well taken & I concur. I was thinking more of ultimate cause than of a failure to amend said cause at an appropriate life juncture.
- oddjob