Open Thread

9 Comments

1. 

   dada on July 9, 2007 at 7:05 pm

   lil freddie:

   …The worst that can be said of [the escalation] at this point is that the results have been mixed. I frankly think the results are less mixed…We can argue about statistics, but at the end of the day, that argument is not going to get us anywhere right now. … Whatever you can say about the current strategy, it has not failed…

   at an AEI symposium…via think progress

   no statistics to prove his point, and no one there to question it…he just knows….ya know.

   meanwhile…”4000 U.S. service members have died in U.S. President George W. Bush’s “war on terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan…a total of 3,596 have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion that removed Saddam Hussein from power. Some 2,957 of that number were killed in action, according to the latest Department of Defense figures. More than 26,500 personnel have been wounded in that conflict, 11,959 of them so seriously they couldn’t return to duty….”

   …”In Afghanistan, 404 American personnel have died, of which 224 were killed in action. Those deaths include 61 personnel who died in Pakistan and Uzbekistan in support of the operation. Some 1,361 have been injured; 813 of them couldn’t return to duty

   …”

   via Bloomberg news

   if this is progress, l’d hate to know what he thinks would constitute failure.

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     on July 9, 2007 at 7:07 pm

     Kagan is the ugliest, stupidest and least perceptive person in the entire punditocracy.

     • 

       dada on July 9, 2007 at 7:16 pm

       lTMF’sA

       

2. 

   on July 9, 2007 at 7:06 pm

   Repeat after me: “It’s George’s war, and he is responsible for 3500 wasted deaths.”

3. 

   shergald on July 9, 2007 at 7:09 pm

   “The best strategy for the president is to hold firm.”

   So what would one expect from an archNeocon? And why waste time reading to this punchline? Predictable.

4. 

   Renee in Ohio on July 9, 2007 at 8:19 pm

   Via An Inch at a Time, the blog of Susan Russell, President of Integrity (the national Episcopalian GLBT group)…

   This IS the funniest thing I have seen in a VERY long time (stereotypes notwithstanding!) Thanks to Randy K. for sending this video I didn’t have time to watch in order to give me the day brightener I am very grateful to have received.

   Click here for the video.

5. 

   Connecticut Man1 on July 9, 2007 at 9:11 pm

   I read the Kristol link… And it looked more like the chicken dance than stomping his feet.

6. 

   Limelite on July 9, 2007 at 9:45 pm

   Kristol, if handed such a scientific instrument, would, no doubt, put the wrong end to his eye and say, “This isn’t working because every thing’s too small.”

   Why on earth pull the plug now? Why give in to an insane, irrational panic that will destroy the Bush administration and most likely sweep the Republican party to ruin?   Moment of Truth for the President

   Pulling the plug and giving in to “insane, irrational panic” isn’t going to destroy the Bush administration nor sweep the Republican Party to ruin.  

   The ongoing insane and irrational mess called the Iraq War has done so already.

   Oh, since when did “grand bargain” become the phrase du jour?  And what does it mean, exactly?

7. 

   oh please on July 10, 2007 at 5:34 pm

   Oh now this is rich:  “When you find yourself in an ambush, attack into the ambush. Don’t twist and turn in the kill zone, looking for a way to retreat. Especially when the ambush is not a powerful one…”  Hardened war-vet Bill Kristol talking about combat tactics.  

   He’d have had a bit more credibility if he’d written something like “When someone cuts in front of you at the line for the buffet table, go for the floating rib with your butter knife and blind them by tossing cream sauce…”