Joe says; How dare you, McCain was a POW and a Prisoner and he was beaten and, and, and he can't raise his arms and... Joe, Joe, stop froat-ing at the mouth, McCain's mouth is not broken and he has to show his mind and mouth, match is sharp and has a firm grip on the issues of the day.

She can’t win, she can’t bear the thought of getting out, and she and her "Vice-President" act like we’re all a bunch of fools for suggesting otherwise. And from the outside, the campaign appears utterly impervious to any real world facts that might contradict the prevailing view of the leadership.  

Does any of this sound familiar?  Let’s call Hillary’s current game plan what it apparently is:

It’s the Democratic version of  "Stay The Course".  

The dlc, (d)emocratic leadership council, put out their long awaited policy on Iraq.

In January of 2007, after Harold Ford, Jr's loss for the Senate, and unable to take the position from Democratic Chairman, Governor Dean, he states in his new position as the Chairman of the (d)lc, they will have a place in stating policy for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate.

All the hope I had for a meaningful September is suddenly dissolving before my eyes and ears.  The PR blitz for continuance in Iraq seems overwhelming.  From the Blue dogs, through Couric (boy I didn't realize she was on the payroll to that degree), through "the advice" contingent whose strong and unified exhortation to "stay the course"  emerged today (just what McConnell needed to hear).

Dem leadership on Iraq is now stumbling so incompetently, this week even Alabama right winger Jeff Sessions can snare the moral high ground simply by telling the truth about us.

Somehow, Dem party policy forbids any discussion of HR 508 or even of Obama's bill, either of which would get us out of Iraq during the coming year.  Instead, the approved options are: stay the course and scold the president (Levin and Warner's non-binding bill), or scold the president's escalation while vowing to stay the course (Dodd's binding bill).

So Iraq has already become the Democrats' war.  No evasion or deception is needed when Sessions says:

Passing a toothless resolution that says, "We do not support the policy that we are funding today," to me is not worthy of the Senate.

The fantastic turnaround that's happened this month is: if the Iraq war continues with only the slight surge that's happening now, it'll be a plain victory for our party and our country.

Just 2 months ago, it looked like we'd have to cut off funds or even impeach the president to end the war and begin a safe, sane policy in the Middle East.  Now it turns out we don't have to impeach or even end the war.  Bush is acting so crazy that just keeping roughly the number of troops we have now is a victory for our side.  And thanks to crazy George, we've even gotten the Republicans to cooperate - with no troop-hating funding cutoff and no failed, "BJ-gate payback" impeachment effort, which we'd only regret come 2008.  Man, did we outsmart them or what?

This week's non-binding resolutions are only the beginning of our victory.  We just have to figure out what to do with bills like HR 508 - a plan to actually rescue the troops and end the war.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  I have seen this quote attributed to both Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.  No matter its true source, it is very true.  It’s time we stand up as a country and say, "STOP, THIS INSANITY!"  The President has retired with his "war cabinet" to try to determine a new course in Iraq.  This same group got us into the quagmire that is Iraq in the first place.  Rumsfeld being gone is only a small start.  The rest of these incompetents should be on the street looking for real work.

 I scribbled cut and pasted noticed this satirical snarky sarcastic not so fantastic oddly symmetrical familiar and timely item, and thought it worthy of attention. Any of you who have a close personal relationship with President Bush, please send it along....

ripped distorted cadged lifted modified from the New York Times today.

  Sadr City - Militia planners and insurgent budget analysts have been asked to provide options for increasing insurgent and militia forces in Baghdad by 20,000 or more. The request indicates that the option of a major "surge" in insurgent and militia strength is gaining ground as part of a strategy review, senior clerics said Friday.

   Discussion of increasing the number of insurgent and militia troops, at least temporarily, has coursed through Sadr City and al Anbar province for two months, as a possible way to escalate the deteriorating security situation in Baghdad. But the decision to ask the insurgents and miiitias to specify where the additional forces could be found among the millons of poor and angry indigenous Iraqis, signifies a turn in the debate.

   

Is anyone else struck by this?  Especially after reading Kathryn Jean Lopez's fawning interview with Mitt Romney (HT: Jay), it seems to me that Mitt Romney is positioning himself as the guy to vote for if you want more of what you've had for the last eight years.  From what I've seen, there is absolutely nothing in what Romney's been saying lately (as opposed to in 1994 or 2002), whether on Iraq, gay rights, abortion, stem cell research, tax cuts, or just about any other issue I can think of, that's in any respect different from current administration policy.  Incidentally, current public approval of the Bush Iraq policy is a stunning 28%, and overall Bush approval is 36%.

Yet Romney wants to run as George W. Bush.

Isn't that kind of an odd strategery?

Get ready for all the spin.  You would think Tony Snow has run out of words to spin these old ideas, old thoughts, failed ideas and failed thoughts into the 'new way forward'

BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

so Mr Asshole-president takes the words of the Don McLean song to heart (and in honor of the season) -- of course sung by Tony Snow:

I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle
You just slow down
Round and around the world you go
Spinning through the lives of the people you know
We all slow down
How you gonna keep on turning from day to day?
How you gonna keep from turning your life away?

full link
http://news.yahoo.com/...

but only fake corndogs, because i'm a vegetarian and i can only imagine that real corndogs are made of some nasty shit. i think the best part is the last bite because somehow the breaded part on the stick end is crispiest. crispiest, i wonder if that's a word? i suppose i'll check it on dictionary.com after i get done writing, because i'm not a cheater... i stick with my mistakes and that way i never make them again. no sir, i will only spell something wrong once. i am not a stay the course type character. anyone ever think about the fact that bush has completely ruined the term "stay the course?" no one with any political intelligence will ever use those words again... unless of course with negative connotation. it's a damned shame, too, because stay the course has always been a great motto when you consider its history.

Governor Dean released the following statement in response to the report of the Iraq Study Group:

"I want to thank the members of the commission for their hard work and dedication. This report is an important and good first step. In the past, President Bush and his Administration have refused to acknowledge the facts on the ground in Iraq and turned a deaf ear to the advice of our military leaders on the ground. Democrats have long been calling for many of the proposals made in this report, including a phased redeployment of our troops and placing more pressure on the Iraqi government to take responsibility for its own security. "

"This report presents yet another opportunity for President Bush to change course in Iraq. The American people have made it clear and our brave troops deserve a new direction in Iraq. As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, I hope that with the release of this report the President will take action to change course in Iraq."

The Report echoes what the American people said last month when they went to the polls: It is time for a new direction in Iraq. It is the clear that the President must be willing to change the course, and not just "stay the course" when it comes to dealing with Iraq.

Reprinted from The Satirical Political Report http://satiricalpolitical.com

Proving that there were some "unknowns" that we didn’t know about a "know-it-all" SECDEF, a departing memo from Donald Rumsfeld concedes that his own strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.

Rumsfeld notes how the war has evolved from "major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence — to Iraqis disguising themselves as Hasidic Jews in a desperate attempt to survive."

Most significantly, Rummy urged a change from "Stay the Course" to an admonition to the Iraqis to "Drop your Cocks and Grab your Socks" — which itself is unlikely to work, given the fact that the sock factory in Baghdad has no electricity.

The latest  Newsweek dated for Dec 11 2006,   informative and revealing, brings up the obvious Commission report inspired preemptive strike  of bush's latest charades at diplomacy.  
It gives a clarifying view of Baker's role with Bush 41 and Bush 43 as the neo-con to the rescue.  And it rips into Bush's position as a Bull in the China Shop blaming the China Shop for breaking!  
Is there any doubt?

Reprinted from The Satirical Political Report http://satiricalpolitical.com

After reviewing an advance copy of the final term paper submitted by the Iraq Study Group, a panel of distinguished academics has given the Baker Commission an "F," and required it not to stay, but to repeat the course.

Entitled "The Study Group on The Iraq Study Group," the bipartisan group of scholars condemned the report as "half-Bakered," and contended that they've "seen better work from drunken frat boys who cut and run from class all year, and then pulled an all-nighter."

One Professor pointed out that "not only did the Iraq Study Group fail to locate Iraq on the map, but they couldn't even draw a proper timeline."

My first reaction to the new proposals such as GO BIG, GO LONG, and GO HOME is as follows:

1. Go Big: Might have worked perhaps THREE YEARS AGO when a certain general proposed it, and then was forced out, but a few more troops now will make little difference:

More After the fold :)

There are only two possible outcomes in Iraq. One of them is not a peaceful, democratic Iraq where everyone lives in blissful co-existence. Iraq as we know it is finished. It has been for quite some time now. Now, only two bad alternatives remain. However, I think one is better than the other.

I hate to break this to the wider Kos community, but just yesterday J. Lieberman (Lieberman Personal Party-CT) restated, re-affirmed, and reiterated his pro-Bush Iraq stance. And he will work his wonders in the back rooms of Congress to see that this is done.