Sunday Morning Comin’ Down

In which Iran’s “Flypaper Strategy” has another banner week.

I mean, after all, why fight Americans in America or in Tehran when their dimwit President and his Party of God seem perfectly happy to keep marching their trillion-dollar military and their international prestige into the Iraqi desert, year after year after futile year, to be crippled, mutilated, bankrupted and destroyed piecemeal.

On Fox News.

Pete King, Rafi Ron and Rand Beers, but the real happyfuntalk comes, as ever, from Bush Stalking Horse Chris Wallace who carefully juices the ball every time he lobs it.


Wallace: If there were a plot of Norwegians, wouldn’t we look for blonde, blue-eyed people?

Wallace: But…the 85-year-old grandmother… the 85-year-old grandmother!

drifglass: But “Muslim” isn’t a country, like “Norway”, is it, Chris?

And what color is “Muslim” anyway?

Well this is what Malcolm X said on the subject 1964:

"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white.
…
During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug)-while praying to the same God with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of the blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the ‘white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.

So unless you’re going to make people declare their religion and wear Yellow Stars and Red Crescents (and, OK, Green Clovers for the Irish Catholics to complete the wingnut Lucky Charms trifecta), then STFU.

However, if we are going to start screening for plurality-hating, modernity-hating, tolerance-hating religious fanaticism pulling in harness with apocalyptic, messianic obsession with the end of the world, and a penchant for advocating the murder of The Scary Other, then I want to see Pat Robertson's and Ann Coulter’s loony asses on a Terrorist Watch List

Tomorrow. 8:00 A.M. sharp.

Then comes Chuck Hagel.

Hagel: Both Parties are at peril of defining this issue down to the lowest denominator. Democrats call Republicans “war mongers” and accuse them of wanting to take away our rights. Republicans call Democrats cut-and-runners and weak on national security.

If you continue to debase this issue – to define it down to the lowest, political common-denominator – people will stop taking it seriously.

driftglass: The difference, of course, being that those who still stick with the Republican Party Line really are neurotic, war mongering liars. Really do have contempt for the Constitution and the ACLU.

Shit, Chuck; just doff you Senatorial colors, don the rags and tatters and “Stars-N-Bars” ballcap of the rank and file, and belly up to the bar in any cinderblock Rush Room tavern and they will fucking tell you as much to your face.

These are your people, Chuck, and they elected and re-elected a pack of brass-knuckle knucklehead theocrats to rule over us because this is precisely what they wanted. Hell, they’re just pissed that now that WWIII has been postponed into the heart of football season they might have to finally spring for a TiVo unit so they can tape Armageddon while they watch NFL Sunday Terminette live.

Wallace: But you want to begin to troops out within six months.

Hagel: Yes…

Wallace: But..but…but how will that make things better?

This is the same question Wallace asks every week, and asked with the same whiny assed titty-baby tone. He, of course, knows better.

He of course, knows that keeping troops in Iraq for target practice cannot make the situation better, and can only make things worse.

He knows that the war is lost.

But Wallace, being a Fox News husk and Conservative stool sample, is a typical Right Wing fainting-couch coward.

Remember always that Modern Republicans despise this country.

Deeply.

And anyone with a conscience and a functional cerebral cortex has already been centrifuged out of that inbred witchbag of bad religion and White Pride, leaving behind a reeking residue of pantywaist La-Z-Boy Patriots who will cheerfully dump children and cash down the Iraqi rathole forever….so long as it is other people’s money.

And other people’s children.

“Brave” is not heaving children into the woodchipper because you’re too gutless to admit you fucked up. “Brave” is making the hard call when it might cost you, and cost you dearly.

Hagel: Where is the fiscal responsibility of the Republican Party I joined in 1968? Where is the international engagement? Where is the call for free, fair trade?

Good question, Chuck.

Say, how would you feel about signing on with a guy named Al Gore’s for a run at the White House in 2008?

Just askin’.



On “This Week…”. Kerry is well-summarized here (via ABC News) thus saving me valuable adjectives for later use.

Senator Labels Bush Iraq Policy 'Disaster,' Lieberman Bid 'Huge Mistake'

By ED O'KEEFE

Aug. 20, 2006 -- - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., blasted fellow a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, for continuing his bid in the Connecticut Senate race despite a narrow loss to newcomer Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary earlier this month.

"I'm concerned that [Lieberman] is making a Republican case," Kerry told ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" in an exclusive appearance.

Kerry accused the 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate of "adopting the rhetoric of Dick Cheney," on the issue of Iraq.

"Joe Lieberman is out of step with the people of Connecticut," Kerry added, insisting Lieberman's stance on Iraq, "shows you just why he got in trouble with the Democrats there."

Kerry called Lieberman's independent bid a "huge mistake" and applauded businessman-turned-politician Lamont as "courageous" for challenging Lieberman on the war.

On the Panel... apostate Conservative Fareed Zakaria puts the strawmen down 1-2-3.

Fareed: We have united our enemies and divided our friends. Our foreign policy has collapsed. And this is not a situation that I think can be remedied by one more US invasion of one more Middle Eastern nation.

Fareed Z: Iran goading the US into a political attack would end up being a huge net win for Iran. We could not win, and it would only serve to solidify their standing as the major, regional power. No one would back us up except Israel. We would literally be alone. Look at the political cost we would pay.

Fareed Z: Only a political solution in Iraqi has any hope of fixing this. And guess what? We have made one massive political fuckup after another from the start.



Meet the Press: John McCain.

Atrios sums up McCain with admirable brevity:

Shorter John McCain on MTP (Russert-free, thankfully):

The administration has done the wrong thing for the last 3 and a half years which leaves us with no option other than staying the course.

McCain again sniffs the the prevailing winds and sees the only guarantee of realizing his now-bottom-of-the-ninth Presidential ambitions is to emerge in 2007 as the undisputed heir designate of the enormous Bush slimegunner apparatus. And so McCain again goes on national teevee to perform yet another of his sickening, ritual auto da fes on the last remnants of the younger, honor-spouting McCain 1.0.

Again he blinks out semaphore to his Dear Leader on camera that he will gladly trade in his rusted out “Straight Talk Express” for the keys Karl Rove's Pretty Hate Machine.

Which is why John McCain dutifully knobs Jerry Falwell’s lap bishop and sides with the vile religious extremists who have destroyed his Party.

And why he spent a large lump of his Sunday teevee face-time seeing how much further up Dubya’s spider hole he can crawl.

What a pathetic creature McCain has become. What a desperately sad, shapeless slithery caricature of his former, endoskeletally-endowed self he has become.

Principle gone. Rationale gone.

Nothing left now but unbounded ego entombed in a chitinous Brooks Brothers shell, and an unalloyed lust for power that he sees slipping away forever. A tired old man, drained of any vestige of purpose, now shitting his political Depends and shedding his honor like an albatross while he sprints for a bus that is pulling away without him.

Screaming, “Wait. Wait. God Damn It! Don’t you know who I am!!”

Yes, Senator. We now know exactly who you are.

And speaking of Joe Lieberman...



On Face the Nation. It’s Joementum!

Here, Norma Liebermond explains to Bob Schieffer;



“I'm still big - it's the Party that got small!"

(A riff I realize I have used before, but “Sunset Boulevard” as metaphor is nearly irresistible.)

Holy Joe: We’ve got to urgently deal with the sectarian violence. My opponent defined me as some kind of “cheerleader” for the Bush Administration and distorted my record.

Distortions? Heavens!

Well, lets break this down shall we?

Holy Joe: This is about how we end our involvement in Iraq successfully.

driftglass: Chickenshit, weasel-worded, and emphatically Republican tripe. It’s not “involvement”. “Involvement” means you’ve been dating for a few months and she wants to know where this is going.

“Slaughterhouse” is what we have in Iraq.

“Civil War”

“Foreign policy disaster on an epic scale.”

“Vietnomentum!”

Joe, if your dick is jammed in a light socket, the way you successfully “end your involvement” in said light socket is to yank your Johnson the hell out of there.

Jesus. That I have to explain this to a United States Senator...

Holy Joe: It would be a disaster if we set a deadline. Sectarian violence would go up.

Bob Schieffer: But it’s going up now you asshole!?

Holy Joe: Sure, but we need to “demand” the Iraqi Government do a better job. See, it’d go up MORE if we got out. To, like, Eleven!

driftglass: So drown slow or drown fast. Bleed out in an hour or in a day. These are the choices you offer? And, more importantly, who in their right mind is even paying attention to this kind of locked-ward-crazy "prediction" anymore?

Is there anyone left outside the Cheneybunker who takes seriously anything these same stump-stubborn, lemming-stupid Neocons say anymore? This Neoconfederacy of Dunces who, since before Day One, have been utterly, fatally wrong about every single one of the Arrogant Declarative pronouncement they have made regarding every single strategic, tactical, political, geopolitical, economic, and historic detail of this debacle?

driftglass: This statement alone is disingenuous and delusional to a degree that no one saying shit like this should be trusted anywhere near the policy-making levers. Being seen as doing our bidding is radioactive for any Iraqi politician. Being seen as flipping us off is seen as a sign of independence and strength.

So using what leverage do you “demand” anything, Joe? Using what inducements?

Or are you really proposing we gamble what is left of our military and our good name on the Homer Simpson Gambit.

Beat on ‘em and scream: “Stupid Iraq. Be more funny!”

Holy Joe: I have never been for an unconditional, unending commitment in Iraq.

driftglass: You’re a liar. If you are not advocating a withdrawal plan of any kind in a conflict that has no exit plan and no end, ever, then you are doing nothing other than cheerleading an unconditional commitment to the slaughter of other people’s children in Iraq. Forever.

Holy Joe: It is not a Civil War because we have a Unity Government and an undivided Iraqi military.

driftglass: You’re a liar, Holy Joe. Dick Cheney and Cheney’s various fingerpuppets are the only people left in the corridors of policy, power and press who do not think Iraq is in the middle of a full-fledged civil war.

Holy Joe: Iraq has become a major battlefield against the people who attacked us on 9/11.

driftglass: Wow. So you’re still trying to sell that sack of electoral crack on the street corner to the youngsters? What an utterly mendacious shit-heel you have become.

You’re a liar, Holy Joe. And that fact that you lie so incompetently – so Republicanly -- is what I find especially insulting.

Holy Joe: If Iraq collapses... If Iraq falls into Civil War... We need to “demand” our handcrafted Iraqi gummint do better...

Holy Joe: If you want a Partisan Divider, vote for Ned Lamont. All of that talk about Iraq being in more trouble than we can handle is just partisan! Anyone not campaigning on a platform of Komplete Kapo Kapitulationism to the Dear Leader’s whims – no loudly advocating bending over and grabbing our ankles for the Dear Leader’s Mighty Wang is -- just a stinkin’ partisan.

Hmmm. “Partisan”: adj. “Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause.”

That’s Holy Joe alrighty: Not devoted to or in support of any party, group or cause…except his own colossal ego.


On Chris Matthew's show -- the Chris Matthew's Show -- 26 minutes of Captain Dubya steering his hullgutted Operation Endless Clusterfuck on a true course ever deeper and faster, straight at ever larger icebergs, lifeboats splashing into the cold Atlantic waters and rats leap for their lives, squeaking, “Jesus, I wonder who the dumbasses were that ever fell for this idjit’s line of hooey?” on their way down.

Sorry, Chris. Unlike the dying GOP Pachyderm, we New Dems have long, long memories. And we’re now sleepily remembering a lesson our fathers and mothers taught us years and years ago. A lesson that we had forgotten for long time, to our detriment and shame.

That you can reason only with the Reasonable. And that to keep fascist and their enabling ilk from razing what is left of the ideals we love, sometimes we have to mulekick like a motherfucker.

Now off to a beach somewhere for a little reading in the bright summer sun and a cold beverage.

And of course a little discrete, gentlemanly ogling.