What President Bush could accomplish in his final days in office. by William Kristol So it could be eight years on the outside of the White House looking in for the GOP. It certainly looks like at least four years out of power in Congress as well, given the sizable Democratic margins. And the fact that Republicans will be blamed for an economy in free fall, and won't get the credit they deserve for successes in Iraq and the broader war on terror, hardly helps the GOP's prospects for a quick comeback.Can Bush do anything in his last weeks to change this dynamic? It's hard to see how he can affect the economic narrative at this point. But he could do his party--and the nation--a service by reminding Americans of our successes fighting the war on terror. He did address the achievements in Iraq and Afghanistan in a fine speech at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, last week, and he can do more along those lines. In particular, he can continue to pay tribute to the successes of the Army and the Marines on the ground, and explain that the task must be finished in both theaters. He can address issues like getting ROTC back on elite campuses (a position Obama also favors). And while he's at it, perhaps he could tell various admirals to stop moaning about how difficult it would be to deal with the pirates off the coast of Somalia (isn't keeping the shipping lanes open a core mission of the Navy?) and order the Navy to clobber them. If need be, the Marines would no doubt be glad to recapitulate their origins and join in by going ashore in Africa to destroy the pirates' safe havens.
What President Bush could accomplish in his final days in office. by William Kristol
So it could be eight years on the outside of the White House looking in for the GOP. It certainly looks like at least four years out of power in Congress as well, given the sizable Democratic margins. And the fact that Republicans will be blamed for an economy in free fall, and won't get the credit they deserve for successes in Iraq and the broader war on terror, hardly helps the GOP's prospects for a quick comeback.
Can Bush do anything in his last weeks to change this dynamic? It's hard to see how he can affect the economic narrative at this point.
But he could do his party--and the nation--a service by reminding Americans of our successes fighting the war on terror. He did address the achievements in Iraq and Afghanistan in a fine speech at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, last week, and he can do more along those lines. In particular, he can continue to pay tribute to the successes of the Army and the Marines on the ground, and explain that the task must be finished in both theaters. He can address issues like getting ROTC back on elite campuses (a position Obama also favors). And while he's at it, perhaps he could tell various admirals to stop moaning about how difficult it would be to deal with the pirates off the coast of Somalia (isn't keeping the shipping lanes open a core mission of the Navy?) and order the Navy to clobber them. If need be, the Marines would no doubt be glad to recapitulate their origins and join in by going ashore in Africa to destroy the pirates' safe havens.
I've long warned that Obama could have an interventionist reflex, but I'll wait for him to take office and start formulating his foreign policy before I judge.
Note that every neocon or even moderately hawkish commentator is out there in the press telling us all what kind of policies Obama will enact. America is of course a centre right country and Obama is a centre right leader who will have a centre right foreign policy. That's what the Washington establishment is telling us all, but the village didn't have a clue about Obama when he was campaigning and I therefore go by the assumption that they don't have a clue about what he will do now.
They're just trying to make it so in their insufferable smug tone.
(1) that as of Summer 2007 John McCain could never win the Republican nomination,
(2) that everything prior to the Florida primary (when he dropped out) was excellent news for Rudy!,
(3) that Hillary Clinton had the nomination and the presidency wrapped up the moment she entered the race,
(4) that Hillary voters wouldn't vote for Barack Obama,
(5) that white people in the Rust Belt wouldn't vote for a black liberal intellectual who bowled a 37 (coughTWEETY&TIMMEHcough),
(6) that Latinos wouldn't vote for a black guy,
(7) that John Zogby and/or Battleground and/or IBD/TIPP (depending on the day) had doublesupersecret methods for conducting national polls that Gallup, Rasmussen, ABC/WaPo, and other non-stupid pollsters didn't have access to,
(8) that John McCain's internal polls in Pennsylvania were totally awesome while all other firms were teh sux,
(9) that the idea that Republican voters were not answering polls, thereby hiding McCain's true level of support, was something other than wishful thinking on the part of a small group of right-wing idiots,
(10) that the Bradley Effect was something other than what anybody who actually knew what it was said it was (coughRACHELMADDOWcough),
(11) relating to (5), that a corrupt, wolf-shooting, hopelessly-ignorant hick beauty queen from a trashcan of a town in America's formerly-Russian-but-Canadian-talking vassal state understood the US better than a law professor from Chicago, and
(12) other stuff.
And that's just a few bits from the 2008 election. Don't get me started on Iraq or 2004 or any other item. That could take years.
Needless to say, I'm not concerned. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2008/12/if-the-only-too.html#comments
What country will he bomb first? We already know of Afghanistan and Pakistan. But where else does he want to kill? Somalia? Sudan? Kenia? As for Change - why not use some nukes?
As for Change - why not use some nukes?
So keep it up, LOSERS! In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Richard Bruce Cheney (born January 30, 1941) is a former United States Congressman, Secretary of Defense, the 46th Vice President of the United States and a dick. He also served as White House Chief of Staff, and in the private sector was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton Energy Services. Every decision he has ever made has been wrong. Early life and family Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Richard Herbert Cheney and Marjorie Dickey (sic). His family later moved to Wyoming. In 1959, he matriculated to Yale University, where it was thought to be impossible to flunk out. After flunking out, Cheney returned to Wyoming in 1960. He ended up graduating from the University of Wyoming at the age of twenty-four, the perfect age for a young black man to serve his country in the army.... Cheney and the draft Cheney is sub-species of dick known as the "Chicken Hawk," which is a person who publicly supports a war but is too much of a pussy to fight in it himself.... In 1963, with the draft board ramping up, Cheney enrolled in Casper Community College (one of the finest institutions of higher-learning in Southwest Casper), and received his first student deferment. Later that year, he got his second student deferment. In August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, escalating American military involvement. Twenty-two days later, Dick married his wife, and a few months later received his third deferment. In July, 1965, President Johnson announced he would double the number of draftees. Cheney moved quickly, entered graduate school that year, and received his fourth student deferment. This was quite a sacrifice, as grad school is known to be extremely boring. Cheney received a "hardship exemption" in 1966 when he and his wife conceived their first child. By the next year, he was no longer eligible for the draft. It had been a long process, but Cheney learned a valuable lesson: if you get in a jam, you can usually get out of it by fucking somebody.
Early life and family
Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Richard Herbert Cheney and Marjorie Dickey (sic). His family later moved to Wyoming. In 1959, he matriculated to Yale University, where it was thought to be impossible to flunk out. After flunking out, Cheney returned to Wyoming in 1960. He ended up graduating from the University of Wyoming at the age of twenty-four, the perfect age for a young black man to serve his country in the army....
Cheney and the draft
Cheney is sub-species of dick known as the "Chicken Hawk," which is a person who publicly supports a war but is too much of a pussy to fight in it himself....
In 1963, with the draft board ramping up, Cheney enrolled in Casper Community College (one of the finest institutions of higher-learning in Southwest Casper), and received his first student deferment. Later that year, he got his second student deferment. In August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, escalating American military involvement. Twenty-two days later, Dick married his wife, and a few months later received his third deferment. In July, 1965, President Johnson announced he would double the number of draftees. Cheney moved quickly, entered graduate school that year, and received his fourth student deferment. This was quite a sacrifice, as grad school is known to be extremely boring. Cheney received a "hardship exemption" in 1966 when he and his wife conceived their first child. By the next year, he was no longer eligible for the draft. It had been a long process, but Cheney learned a valuable lesson: if you get in a jam, you can usually get out of it by fucking somebody.
He can address issues like getting ROTC back on elite campuses (a position Obama also favors). And while he's at it, perhaps he could tell various admirals to stop moaning about how difficult it would be to deal with the pirates off the coast of Somalia (isn't keeping the shipping lanes open a core mission of the Navy?) and order the Navy to clobber them.
