Obama issues orders to begin Afghan escalation
I’m trying to catch up from a great holiday/vacation and put together a column on this topic for tomorrow, but in the meantime, from Fox:
“Top military and diplomatic officials got their marching orders Sunday evening from President Obama ahead of a planned speech Tuesday in which he’s expected to outline his new Afghanistan war strategy and call for about 30,000 more U.S. troops to be sent to the war zone.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama issued the orders during a meeting in the Oval Office Sunday.
While offering few details of the contents of Obama’s speech — to be delivered at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. — he stressed that the president will discuss the importance of an exit strategy.
“This is not an open-ended commitment,” Gibbs said.”
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362 comments Add your comment
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
6:16 pm
Matilda, feel free to Joe biden it, if you’d like!
BTW, I dig your sense of humor and your human decency.
You mentioned Freebird earlier and there is little in this life more heart breaking than losing someone you love.
Here’s another LS tune I’ve always loved and tried to emulate…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqp1U6RoQaw
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
6:16 pm
We know how Obama will handle the Afghanistan situation but what if the party of Reagan were in charge? WWRD? Sorry, Nancy. A seance just will not do. For a matter as serious as war, a resurrection and a little face time is the only way to go.
md
November 30th, 2009
6:17 pm
@@, I have to concur. When I was a registered democrat, naive would be an understatement. And the place in between I would describe as “more aware”.
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
6:17 pm
“Right or wrong, bookman?”
derelicition of duty, making false statements, impeding an investigation…right or wrong whiner?
@@
November 30th, 2009
6:19 pm
Obama was hoping for more…
But NATO diplomats and defense analysts say about half that figure is a more realistic amount to expect from Europe. Britain says it expects NATO allies other than the United States to pledge 5,000 additional troops.
Look for another 5,000 to Obama’s 30 from the U.S. bringing the total to McChrystal’s original 40…was it?
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
6:21 pm
After their last two term fiasco the non-conservative conservatives and the Republiconned talk about others being naive!
?????????????????????????????
Wow! Time to put on the hip waders….
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
6:21 pm
“I am a hopeful cynic.”
–Tracy Chapman
“Cynicism is full of naive disappointments.”
–Mason Cooley
md
November 30th, 2009
6:22 pm
NATO and the EU will be in for a rude awakening when the next war is on their turf and we come to their defense with 5k troops. Time to disband NATO and the UN, nothing but a bunch of BS.
Paul
November 30th, 2009
6:23 pm
Hello Jay,
I trust you had a relaxing time. Such a variety of news stories in a few days. None of them good.
I’m interested to hear, tomorrow night, just what this strategy is that took all these months and meetings to craft. I’ve a feeling I’ll be underwhelmed.
All the emphasis on markers and a timetable? That is not a strategy. It’s political cover. I wonder if we’ll end up doing anything markedly different from what we’ve been doing. Just a bit of emphasis difference.
Hello Bosch
[[Because we have faith that he won’t go invade Syria or some other country that is not in this fight like Bush did Iraq.]]
The prior thread – I’m really interested to see how the Left handles the situation if we quarantine/bomb/invade Iran – a ‘country that never attacked us’ – given how that line has been used as the condemnatory end-all regarding Iraq.
Hello getalife
Nice job of pulling the hot iron from the fire with those Razorbacks. Didn’t matter who outplayed whom – at the end, it’s just ‘scoreboard.’
I’m going to the Big 12 championship game Saturday. See the game on the field and also on the JerryJumboTron.
But back to your question of ‘can we bribe the Taliban?” Sure! That entire society is bribable. We can do it with jobs. We can do it with agriculture. We can do it with threats “we’ll leave you alone but if you get in bed with AQ again, we will come back and kill you.”
I just hope that doesn’t clash with Progressive ideals, though.
Hello N-GA at 4:00
I’ll offer that what constitutes success – the critical question – is not for the military or the CIA to determine. That’s for the President. When he tells them what he wants to accomplish, then they can come up with a plan to achieve it, determine support requirements and lay out a timetable.
Just like they did with the Bush transition plan in Nov, which they refined and announced as a major event in March. Then backed away from when presented with the ‘how do we get there and how many troops will it take’ reality.
Kamchak
So sorry about your loss. It must be nice to be at peace. Me, I’ve been going over in my mind what I might regret leaving undone while they’re here. And I’ve been working thru the list. Interesting, though – I’ve found many of the things I’d regret don’t matter one whit to them – it was me imposing my ‘this is important’ baggage.
I like watching Ghost Whisperer.
Getalife 5:42
A Special Operations Command assessment got some attention this weekend. Blamed General Franks and SecDef Rumsfeld for the miscalculations. Also said getting OBL would have been symbolic but the crazies with their hating ideology would have continued. I’ll see if I can find a source to post later.
Report/Whine 5:42
Yeah, that was one of the sickening stories that came out over the holiday. The general who preferred charges? A politician wearing a uniform. SecDef Gates should break protocol, tell the general it’s time to retire and let the SEALS get on with being warriors.
DoggoneGA
This reminds me of the sniper team that had charges brought will carrying out a ‘kill or capture’ order. The general who preferred the charges thought they could have captured him. The items you cited are the normal laundry list – and the SEALS called the command’s bluff by refusing nonjudicial punishment and demanding a court martial. I’ve a feeling the command will now drop it.
md 6:13
Remember when AG Holder was asked in Senate testimony if a special ops team captured OBL if they’d have to read him Miranda rights and Holder said “it depends”?
It’s not a PC ‘war’. It’s a criminal case, remember?
@@
November 30th, 2009
6:24 pm
md:
I was never a registered anything…still not. But I can recall thinking I was voting for ideas that were good and noble. Then….all of a sudden, WHAM!!! No I’m not, I’m voting for a bunch of politicians who claim nobility at the expense of others.
Whoooaaaa, Nellie! Got off that dead horse.
Matilda
November 30th, 2009
6:25 pm
AmVet, thanks. (Mind if I blather a bit? Coping mechanism.) This song takes me back to my time in North Florida… where redneck meets beach bum in a tousle of unkempt, sun-bleached hair, leathered skin, tattoos, scraggled shorts, and shoeless feet. I watched some Skynard-friend local band perform it on the deck of a beachfront bar there. Waves slapping a few yards away, late afternoon sun blazing, tempered only by the salty breezes… the blue collar folks on the picnic tables, sucking on oysters and shrimp and pitchers of beer while the sticky-faced, shoeless children ran around and danced. I sat alone, sipping a cheap brew, relaxing in the warmth and easiness of the day, when the band hit the first chords of Simple Man. The singer, no more than 95 pounds including long, stringy hair, drew a breath like he was about to say the most important words ever spoken. The crowd turned and fixated…. the song began… and every voice out there joined in with all they had inside. The song represented everything real and true about who they were, who WE were… God’s creations living on His planet in a natural state… remembering what matters most, and what matters not. As the chorus rose up and rang through the beach, I looked at every face there, holding and remembering them and the way I felt in the warm easy sun, and the beauty of the voices lifted together, and vowed to remember it always as one of those moments you never expect, but which are, by the grace of God, the most beautiful.
Common Sense
November 30th, 2009
6:25 pm
“There are no good wars but there are some necessary ones.”
md
November 30th, 2009
6:27 pm
Amvet,
Georgie was a mess, but I’m guessing Gore and Kerry would have done a good job of screwing it up in their own special way. Gore would probably be a retired gazillionaire after passing legislation that benifited his gw agenda and left the economy in shreds. Either way, we were going to get hosed.
@@
November 30th, 2009
6:30 pm
I was reading an article earlier that said voters up in some of those northern states are pushing to have the laws changed. Seems a lot of them wanna marry their 1st cousins.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
6:31 pm
duhgone- It is their word against a terrorist who butchered 4 Americans and hung their bodies from a bridge and you are a moron.
Right or wrong, bookman?
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
6:35 pm
matilda @ 6:25
That was touching.
md
November 30th, 2009
6:35 pm
“Remember when AG Holder was asked in Senate testimony if a special ops team captured OBL if they’d have to read him Miranda rights and Holder said “it depends”?
It’s not a PC ‘war’. It’s a criminal case, remember?”
Maybe Mr Holder needs to send his marshalls over to do the capturing and let our troops go eleswhere, like home.
Paul
November 30th, 2009
6:38 pm
md
One of these days I’m gonna buy you a beer!
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
6:39 pm
Taxpayer, that was hysterical.
Loved the Bobby Jindal “cameo” at the end!
Thanks for sharing…
md, I suspect you are correct.
Gore may well have been a flop too. (Lotsa Clinton and Buddhist baggage. And Tipper the album burner? No thanks!)
But at least it was OBVIOUS, that unlike George, he wasn’t a blithering numskull and serial failure.
As for Kerry? Again a BIG question mark, but again unlike George, at least the guy had a shred of courage and valor.
And look what that got him from the misnamed conservatives. Slimed and SwiftBoated.
Much like they were to do with McCain later.
One of many reasons I find this current crop of sleazy Republicans disgusting to the nth degree…
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
6:40 pm
“One of these days I’m gonna buy you a beer!”
Paul for President!
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
6:42 pm
AmVET
“One of many reasons I find this current crop of sleazy Republicans disgusting to the nth degree…”
Sharing bed and baggage with their Democrat cousins…
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
6:44 pm
“I’ve a feeling the command will now drop it.”
I do too, actually…but I just got tired of ole whiner only giving a tiny bit of the story, over and over and over. Thought it was time for some of that to go back the other way.
@@
November 30th, 2009
6:44 pm
I don’t recall conservatives swiftboating McCain. It was his politics they questioned. Swiftboating refers to military service.
I do recall some from the other side saying he was allowed to stay in a luxury hotel ’cause he spilled his guts. They made fun of his shoulder-height wave without taking into consideration his movement had been restricted by his injuries. Then there were those from the other side who called him “Old Cancer Face” McCain.
I remember THAT!
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
6:46 pm
I like evolution. It means we don’t all have to be related.
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
6:50 pm
“It means we don’t all have to be related”
Hate to break it to you…but evolution means we HAVE to be related.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
6:51 pm
taxxie- Evolution is the ultimate incest.
Which is why you liberals are so fond of it.
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
6:51 pm
Matilda, when I was in my twenties, I too spent much time along the redneck riviera and all throughout Florida.
It was as you noted a really weird combination of folks. But gawd, I loved it.
That Skynyrd was to take the southern rock banner from the Allman Brothers and run like hell with it was and still is really special for those that were once there…
josef, true dat.
Flip sides of the same coin. Just that the R side is even more deadly in it’s incompetence…
Paul
November 30th, 2009
6:51 pm
Hello josef nix
I forgot – buying beers is now de rigueur for a Pres.
Maybe that’s why this entire Afg/Iraq/Iran thing is so difficult – they won’t even sit down for a beer! If that’s not reason enough to leave, I don’t know what is!
DoggoneGA
There’s always more to the stories. In this one, the rest of the story is conduct that happened not involving the capture. And it arose solely because they were accused and the jihadist was given credibility. There comes a time when a military commander needs to look out for his troops, tell them ‘carry on, I’ll take the heat.’ That’s what I meant by a general as politician – more concerned about jeopardizing that next star than about his men, it would seem.
Jackie
November 30th, 2009
6:56 pm
@Common Sense
You repeated you post from last night:
“To “I Report”:
Give “Jackie” a little bit of a break. He was a “leg” in the 1st Cav. in Nam. He paid his dues and tho I seldom agree with him he deserves to be heard.”
Now, how would a jarhead know what anything from anything. You may not agree with me simply because you seemed to have disregarded your experience or you have PTSD. Which is it?
md
November 30th, 2009
6:57 pm
Sorry Paul, but I can’t accept a beer for stating the obvious, save it for those that need it to see the obvious.
Jackie
November 30th, 2009
6:58 pm
@I Report
You posted:
“If Jaggie was in the military, then I’m a Chinese woman.”
Just proves that you don’t even know your own gender, General SLOW MOTION!
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
7:01 pm
“more concerned about jeopardizing that next star than about his men, it would seem”
I think it’s too early to make that kind of assessment. Since no details are being given out, it could be pretty banal…or it could be really serious. It depends on what duty they neglected. From bits and pieces of info in several different versions of the story…it appears that they, or one of them anyway, was under orders to guard him from harm. If they took that opportunity to abuse him instead…that’s a pretty serious dereliction of duty.
Police officers have to learn to hold in their emotions when they are dealing with a cop killer, soldiers need to do the same. To ME it looks like an “across the bow” warning shot to the troops to not let their emotions run away with them in situations where the captured man has no defenses.
Which is why I think it will either be dropped, or they’ll get off with a slap on the wrist and maybe reassignment to a desk job for a while, to think it over.
Behavior on an actual field of battle should not, and should be be allowed to, spill over into off the field situations.
jconservative
November 30th, 2009
7:01 pm
I Report – Bookman cut out about 5 pm.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:02 pm
Doggone,
We could have evolved from one of many that might have sprang, slithered, crawled, etc., forth from the primordial soup but in the Biblical beginning, there was but one. Of course, there are always the aliens, illegal or otherwise, and their descendants. I suppose the blue bloods could be from Pluto and the red blooded folks from Mars. The possibilites are endless especially now that we know that there is water on the moon. Then again, it was probably just spilled by one of the early astronauts.
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
7:05 pm
“Then again, it was probably just spilled by one of the early astronauts”
Did you see Luckovich’s cartoon on that? Darn near put me on the floor!
getalife
November 30th, 2009
7:06 pm
Obey call it “a fools errand”.
Probably referring the bribes by China to mine their resources.
They are our bank.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:10 pm
“If Jaggie was in the military, then I’m a Chinese woman.”
Chinese woman. That is a rather peculiar choice. If I were fantasizing, I think I would choose Superman or Green Lantern or some such being. Then again, to each his (or her or other) own.
Antwine
November 30th, 2009
7:11 pm
Obama is doing what he have to do…handle a war effort that he inhereted. It’s still a war over there in Afghanistan and it has to be handled.
getalife
November 30th, 2009
7:11 pm
We have seen the “Andy” character.
Done that.
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:12 pm
Russia and Iran on Nov. 30 signed four cooperation deals in the oil and natural gas sector and the telecommunication sector, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported. With the signing of these cooperation pacts, Shmatko said, “Iran and Russia will continue expansion of their trade and economic relations regardless of barriers.”
Russia’s SIBUR and Tehran’s National Petrochemical Company are negotiating the building of major petrochemical plants in Iran, Tass reported Nov. 30, citing Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko.
So what kinda sanctions was Russia supporting?
To top it off:
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev tabled a draft European security treaty aimed at overcoming the Cold War legacy, the EU Observer reported Nov. 30.
Still playing hard to get, I see.
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
7:13 pm
OMG! The Chinese have even taken over whiner!
getalife
November 30th, 2009
7:13 pm
@@,
What is going on with the Pakistani leader?
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
7:14 pm
@@
Energy Minister SHMATKO?
Tell me that’s not his name! AmVET?
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:17 pm
Doggone,
At least Luckovich kept it clean. My dirty mind envisioned one of the astronauts taking a leak in one of those many pre-dug latrines. Andy should have picked up on this one given his desire to associate the AJC with urinals.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
7:22 pm
Paul- Add to that the CIA agents being investigated, the murderers of 9/11 getting constitutional rights reserved for citizens of the United States, world girlie making cute with genocidal maniacs and blaming America for everything, the Treason Times disclosing secret US intelligence, attempts by the State Department to get the Taliban included in the Afghan government, abandoning Israel in favor of the bomb throwers and rocket launchers, would you put your life on the line for this administration?
Obama is Confused
November 30th, 2009
7:22 pm
Why is this still Bush’s fault? Osama Bin Laden is the one who bombed us. At the same time, Obama campaigned on the idea that he would lead us out of Iraq and Afganastan and “bring out troops home.” He will break every campaign promise that does not hurt his chances of getting re-elected…for example…more funds and support for groups like planned parenthood, auto worker’s unions and acorn…these are the groups that control our country and keep getting the voters out. As far as the war…future blood is 100% on his administration…in addition, he is responsible for 1 billion dollars a day in new debt related to the surge in troops…America is bankrupt and Obama is leading us into the pit of destruction and no one seems to care…why care when 90% of the people who elected Obama pay no income tax…they just stand around with their hands out…a lot like Chavez’s voter base.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
7:23 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot, and a government full of sissies like duhgone running around shrieking that a fat lip is torture.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:24 pm
So what kinda sanctions was Russia supporting?
Sales of US-grown wheat and corn, what else!
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
7:25 pm
“a fat lip is torture”
derelicition of duty, making false statements, impeding an investigation…right or wrong whiner?
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:32 pm
Getalife:
What is going on with the Pakistani leader?
The best I can tell is he’s in a political fight to distance himself (for appearances only) from any military ties (shades of Musharraf). The military was really angry about the Kerry-Lugar Aid Package. They’re the ones doing the fighting but assistance for the military was denied. I think we’ve made amends with the military to some degree.
Problem is, those opposed to Zadari (sp?) saw an opportunity to make trouble for him. They’ve taken full advantage of the situation. His opposition? Nawaz Sharif…a previous collaborator with both the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.
Other than that…I have no idea.
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:34 pm
Getalife:
Forgot to mention another problem. Because of the Kerry-Lugar thingy, and the trouble it’s caused, Pakistan is holding back on offering intelligence that may be beneficial in Afghanistan.
It’s a mess.
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
7:35 pm
A little more on the serious side, for those of us over 50, does anybody recall the last time “escalation” was used in this context and what came of that?
Midori
November 30th, 2009
7:36 pm
since you wingnuts like polls:
Just one person in Washington Post poll says Cheney best reflects conservative principles.
Two new polls report that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh are the most powerful conservatives in the country. According to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair survey, 26 percent of Americans rate Limbaugh as the most influential conservative voice, followed by Fox News host Glenn Beck at 11 percent. In a Washington Post poll, a plurality of Republicans say Palin best reflects their “party’s core values,” and they would vote for her “if the presidential nomination battle were held today.” Two people who don’t fare as well in the Post poll are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney:
Just 1 percent pick George W. Bush as the best reflection of the party’s principles, and only a single person in the poll cites former vice president Richard B. Cheney. About seven in 10 say Bush bears at least “some” of the blame for the party’s problems.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/30/cheney-one-poll/
Bud Wiser
November 30th, 2009
7:38 pm
To ‘Obama is Confused’, who asked, “Why is this till Bush’s fault?”
Trying to keep it short and not-so-sweet, it is the liberals’ last fall back line when they cannot think of any other reason that Obowo is such a complete and abject failure as a president.
He cannot be at fault. And that is because they cannot see that they were actually stupid enough to vote for that incompetent knee bending fool, SO, the logical progression is that if they weren’t as stupid as it is now beginning to appear on an hourly basis, then Obowo is not as incompetent as it now appears, thusly, any deviations from their self delusional state is that it must be Bush’s fault, because it certainly is not theirs or the Golden Child from Kenya.
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:41 pm
Hey! they didn’t poll me. I could’ve, at least, offered Dick one more supporter. He’d be wasted as president. He’d be much better as SoS.
Diplomacy be damned.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:41 pm
Midori,
Cheney/Palin 2012. Spread the word.
Midori
November 30th, 2009
7:43 pm
hiya Taxie
will do!!
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
7:44 pm
Bud
“Trying to keep it short and not-so-sweet, it is the liberals’ last fall back line when they cannot think of any other reason that Obowo is such a complete and abject failure as a president.”
I won’t yet go so far as to call him “a complete and abject failure as president.” but your contention holds muster in my liberal opinion. The rose-colored glasses set has ridden that horse about as far as it will trot. To quote an influential person in his life, “the chickens have come home to roost” or are about to. He’s my president, too, and I wish him the best, but…
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:45 pm
Alright, I gotta share this. I was at some site today where some moderate liberals were comparing Obama’s lack of experience to that of Palin’s. Not sure what had ‘em all riled up
As the worm turns?
In Sarah Palin’s defense….she has executive experience. That’s more than Obama had going in.
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
7:46 pm
Regarding the “forgetful” who claim that the fake conservatives didn’t slime and swiftboat McCain, if Bob Hope was alive today and his writer was a neo-con he might have a huge hit today called, “Thanks for the Selective Memories”.
Gawd, but these fallacious Republidolts do make me laugh, though…
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:50 pm
In Sarah Palin’s defense….she has executive experience.
Executive experience! As in, she knows when to quit.
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:51 pm
AmVet:
I’m talking about on this blog. All the sliming of the swiftboat variety came from the other side…yours. I COULD go to the trouble to find some. I do get tired of having to refresh your memory though.
Conservatives didn’t like his politics is all.
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:52 pm
Obama quit his senate seat after saying he wouldn’t.
Your point?
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the Liar Obama
November 30th, 2009
7:52 pm
Obama Quote: “I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war….You can take that to the bank!”
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the Liar Obama
November 30th, 2009
7:53 pm
@@
November 30th, 2009
7:52 pm
Obama quit his senate seat after saying he wouldn’t.
Your point?
I think the point is HE’S A LIAR
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
7:54 pm
@@
On Sarah Palin, Unmentionable maintains that the reason so many don’t like her out of hand is because she’s TOO much like us…
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
7:58 pm
AmVet,
Here’s another southern band for you to try out. Lisa Hannigan covered another one of their songs here.
Common Sense
November 30th, 2009
8:01 pm
To Jackie:
You “are” a hard one to figure. Everytime I try to be nice, you follow it with vitriol.
I surmise you are one of those rare guys I would never have shared a fighting hole with (foxhole since you were in the Army and foxes hide in their holes).
Too bad ……….. we have a lot in common from our experience over there. But, alas ……….. I tried.
By the way ……… your opinion of this “jarhead” is second hand:
“There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.”
Gen. William Thornson, United States Army
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:02 pm
Andy:
Liar? I prefer the word “nunancy”.
josef:
Unmentionable knows of what he speaks.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:03 pm
Then again, I’m not convinced Palin does know when to quit. Now she’s off touring the countryside via private jet. Does she take the family on the jet or do they have to take the bus with all the other underlings.
md
November 30th, 2009
8:06 pm
“We will bring an end to this war….You can take that to the bank!”
Must have been one of the now defunct banks.
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
8:08 pm
@@
“Unmentionable knows of what he speaks.”
Unlike yours truly, he’s a man of few words. That’s why I listen to him.
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:09 pm
There’s no way to make liberals happy. If Sarah Palin doesn’t include her family, she’s a negligent mother. If she includes her family, she can’t lay claim to being like average Americans.
What little I’ve seen of her on tour, she’s getting on and off a bus.
DoggoneGA
November 30th, 2009
8:11 pm
“As in, she knows when to quit”
You know, really, I think the problem isn’t so much that she quit…it’s her bad timing. If she had quit when it was announced that she had been tapped to run for VP…no one would have said a word. But waiting until after she lost just made her a sore loser AND a quitter.
TnGelding
November 30th, 2009
8:14 pm
One thing for sure, casualties will escalate on both sides. Even if the entire country was destroyed (so it could be saved?) the Taliban would survive.
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
8:15 pm
For our resident Inspector Clouseau…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXn2QVipK2o
Taxpayer, I’ve never heard of him but I like it. A real song writer. He’s kind of a southern Nick Drake with backing banjo, mandolin, etc… I’ll check out some of his other stuff.
Thanks. One of the great things here is getting turned onto music I’ve never heard before.
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:15 pm
Authors tell Amanpour that Obama has dithered too long on Afghanistan.
“He can’t quite ever decide whether he’s Mr. Focus or Mr. Multitask. He was actually elected to be President Multitasking, I think,” Schama said. “And there are certain moments in the life of our great republic, actually, when no matter what the health reform is, no matter how much in deep doo-doo the economy is, the nation really is hungry for the utterance of a commander in chief.”
Too funny!
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
8:17 pm
TnGelding
@ 8:14
I would agree. The country was already destroyed and the Taliban was there skulking in the ruins.
Doggone–
@ 8:11
There’s a great deal of truth in what you say.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:18 pm
But waiting until after she lost just made her a sore loser AND a quitter.
Perhaps it is that combination that some consider to be a redeeming characteristic.
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:20 pm
AmVet:
Save your silly little videos. I don’t have time to watch or listen.
My dog doesn’t bite.
I do.
Look before I Leap
November 30th, 2009
8:21 pm
@Taxpayer: I disagree. She knew exactly when to quit and go on and make her millions. Most politicians actually finish the terms to which they were elected before doing so.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:23 pm
There’s no way to make liberals happy.
I can’t speak for the liberals but I couldn’t be happier with her performance to date. She lightens up an otherwise dull Party, politically speaking, that it. I certainly would not have her at any other party though. A few drinks and she’d be trying to dress up my dog in a wolf costume and asking to borrow a rifle. Fortunately for my dog, I don’t have a helicopter.
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
8:24 pm
AmVet–
I do like your silly little videos! My doog doesn’t bite, nor do I, but Mustafa the al Qaada Terrorist Cat does when he doesn’t have his albacore….
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:25 pm
Consider this.
Sarah Palin said she quit due to the cost of frivilous lawsuits. Distractions for her staff. I believe her.
She then wrote a book to help defray the cost of said lawsuits.
I don’t know why you guys find that so hard to believe.
Paul
November 30th, 2009
8:25 pm
Regarding all the “Palin quit” posts.
If I may offer, wasn’t she like half a million in debt due to legal bills due to her opponents (and one guy in particular) filing ethic complaint after ethic complaint? Seems a pretty vile way to ‘get’ someone, especially considering the lack of momentous findings in all those cases.
So she resigns, then does the book deal and tour. Seems reasonable. She’s no longer on the public dime and she can pay off the bills. Would’ve been more of a problem if she’d have stayed on and done the book deal tour.
I trust the Right won’t follow the Progressive’s tactics in this regard when next they encounter a candidate they don’t like.
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
8:27 pm
Another example of great southern song writing…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIoY1aZdzm0&feature=related
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
8:31 pm
OMG, is global warming getting it’s ass raked over the coals, hahahaha.
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
8:32 pm
PAUL–
And I would venture that the anti-Palinites are most miffed at the fact that, despite their best efforts and the fact the GOP lost the election, she seems to keep coming out on top…
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:32 pm
Sarah Palin said she quit due to the cost of frivilous lawsuits.
Given the uniqueness of her situation, that explains everything.
Midori
November 30th, 2009
8:33 pm
Hi Paul
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Obozo, our little world girlie
November 30th, 2009
8:34 pm
Am I not the man?-
If you think it’s outrageous that Navy SEALs who helped capture one of Iraq’s most wanted terrorists now face court-martial on charges they roughed him up, just wait. It may get worse. Tomorrow morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a bill introduced by Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) that would make it easier for terrorists to sue military and federal law-enforcement officials.-WallStreetJournal
bookman?
Midori
November 30th, 2009
8:35 pm
well lookie here – Rush is about to enrich a fourth future divorcee:
Rush Limbaugh to Marry Wife #4
http://gawker.com/5415624/rush-sets-wedding-date
AmVet
November 30th, 2009
8:36 pm
josef, that’s because you have a sense of humor. A great one, I might add!
And you can laugh at yourself – a decidedly non-conservative trait in my considerable experience!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9YViHbaAWM&feature=related
@@
November 30th, 2009
8:39 pm
I don’t think I’da called a three-person team of government bureaucrats “SWAT TEAMS”.
Deja vous?
josef nix
November 30th, 2009
8:39 pm
AmVet
“And you can laugh at yourself…”
I just go along with the crowd!
Paul
November 30th, 2009
8:40 pm
Hi Midori!
josef nix
Well, she is resilient, isn’t she?
I didn’t catch many of her interviews, but I did catch the foreign policy and general policy interview done by O’Reilly. She acquitted herself well. If her purpose is to show she has a grasp of issues on a par with, say, SecState Clinton, then she’s on the road to redemption. In a couple years I’ll venture the story line will be ‘what we saw during the election was a result of political handlers. What we’ve seen since is what’s been there all along.” At least, that’s how I’d advise her to play it.
It was kinda funny, after her BOR interview BOR had on a woman he calls on often, a liberal radio host. I forget her name. Anyhow, she said what I was thinking – on Afg and Iran she was pretty general, hardly any specifics. BOR said “yeah, so? Obama’s been in going on a year and he doesn’t have any answers for those two either.”
Whackdown.
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:40 pm
Andy finally got something right about global warming — burning too much coal without capturing the carbon is a problem and we’ll all get our collective asses burned before it’s over in exchange for that cheap power. Then again, some folks have already gotten burned pretty good considering the problems with pollution from the mining operations and ash spills and mercury contamination of fish and black lung, etc. A small price to pay, eh!
Paul
November 30th, 2009
8:43 pm
Midori
Fourth time?!!? Bet that’s a heckuva prenup! Still and all, I wish him happiness.
And no, getalife…. I don’t think she’s done a video…..
Taxpayer
November 30th, 2009
8:47 pm
AmVet,
I did not follow your 8:27.
Look before I Leap
November 30th, 2009
8:50 pm
Sorry Paul but your reasoning is flawed. Palin and Washington attorney John Coale set up a PAC and legal defense fund which virtually eliminated the accumulated legal debt that Palin had racked up. In addition, Palin was using state funds to pay legal costs prior to her selection as VP candidate. The McCain camp stepped in and said it would be politically improper to continue to do that so the legal bills began to accumulate as personal debt. Once the election was over, that restriction should have ended. Palin claims that the McCain campaign promised to pay those bills. She says that if they had prevailed in the election, the campaign would have quietly paid the bill. The McCain camp denies this agreement.
In short, she had other options to raise money to pay the bills aside from quitting.
Bill and Hillary Clinton had MILLIONS in legal bills and settlement costs relating to WhiteWater, Lewinsky and Paula Jones. I can assure you, not one single penny of that money came from either Bill’s or Hillary’s personal accounts.