So I was listening to the radio a couple of weeks ago—I believe it was the POTUS 08 channel on XM—and there was a discussion taking place about (what else?) the 2008 presidential race.  Now one of the people taking part in the discussion was our own Georgia10, so I had to listen.  Anyway, a right winger called up and just blasted Georgia for something she didn’t say and during his diatribe he sort of derisively spat out the term "blogger" at her as if it were an epithet.  I’ve been sort of ruminating on this issue for a while, but at that particular moment it crystallized for me and I realized that I wanted to say something about it.

So apparently, the troop surge in Iraq is now over, despite the fact that there are still approximately 20,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq than there were when the surge strategy was announced.

But let's take a look back at the alleged success of the surge by revisiting President Bush's own words.

January 10, 2007:

To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq’s provinces by November. To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country’s economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs. To empower local leaders, Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year. And to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation’s political life, the government will reform de-Baathification laws, and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq’s constitution.

It’s now 18 months later.  How did it go?

My grandfather was a staunch Republican.  He regularly donated to even the craziest, most radical right wingers out there, as long as they had an 'R' next to their name.  (By way of example, my grandfather actually gave money to Alan Keyes in 2000.)

Since my grandfather died in 2006, my father has inherited the tidal wave of Republican fundraising mail, despite the fact that my parents are registered Democrats, because my father's name is the same as his father's.  So I am reviewing my parents' mail while they are away on vacation and I came across a fundraising letter for John McCain.  I thought I would try to entertain you all with a translation of Senator McCain's "straight talk" way of whoring for campaign cash.  All emphasis is in the original.

So I understand that there are many people who are completely outraged by the treatment Hillary Clinton received in the Democratic primary.  There are accusations of sexism leveled at  the media and the Democratic Party as a whole.  I have to say I'm a little troubled by this because of where it seems to lead some people...

In the grand scheme of things, it really didn’t take that long; only a little over 200 years.  The United States has been transformed from a nation "of the people, by the people and for the people" to a nation of the people, by big business and for the corporations.  It has long been the case that corporations wielded more political power than the average person.  But in the past 25 years or so, our democracy has become so corrupted by the influence of big business that it scarcely resembles that which the founding fathers likely envisioned when the Constitution was written, nor that which Abraham Lincoln so aptly described nearly a century later.¹  Our government has been radically altered from a tool for advancement of the public welfare into an engine for the transfer of vast quantities of wealth from the masses into the coffers of enormous multinational corporations who are without any loyalty to the nation or its people.  

First of all, this diary is not a call for Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the Democratic primary.  I don’t believe that Senator Obama has yet done enough to entitle him to the nomination and Hillary has certainly shown herself to be a strong and worthy candidate.  Nevertheless, she is hurting the Democratic Party by the manner she is currently running her campaign and it needs to stop before she does irreparable damage and creates the scenario that will give us President John McCain on January 20, 2009.

WASHINGTON--Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan has just announced that the Republican Party will be changing its symbol from the elephant, which has been the pictorial representation of the GOP for more than a century.

It seems to me that we as Democrats need to address the issue of the treatment of detainees and make clear our position.  The GOP position is already clearly staked out as pro-torture.  The Administration and the Republican candidates for president all come up with rationales for why they should be allowed to torture people. Sometimes they allege that the interrogation methods used/suggested don’t amount to "torture", in the process redefining torture to include only methods that aren’t used (or that the Administration won’t admit are used).  

more below the fold...

So I've been an Edwards supporter from the beginning.  I even supported Edwards for the nomination in 2004 and was pleased when he was selected as Kerry's running mate.  But I've come to the inescapable conclusion that he has zero chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.  

My dilemma and plea for guidance below the fold...

We’ve been told by Bush and his Republican sycophants that we can only lose in Iraq if we withdraw.  This inane talking point accomplishes two things—it provides cover for the daily disastrous news from Iraq and it defines withdrawal as defeat.  But Bush goes even further when he claims that this was the lesson we learned from Vietnam.  On this, the 35th anniversary of the signing of the draft of the Paris Peace Accords with Vietnam, the history of that period has never been more relevant.

So I was watching CNN this morning and they were doing a roundup of all the candidates addressing the economy and what plans they have to stimulate growth.  McCain's comments jumped out at me.

Bush supporters are always touting his "leadership".  Even some those who may not like the specific direction in which he has taken this country have been convinced that, although he is often wrong, at least George W. Bush is a strong leader.  

I disagree.  And below, I evaluate and grade George W. Bush’s leadership using the actual definition, scoring him on a point scale from 0-5 in each category of the definition.

It’s funny how since the 1960’s the word "peace" has somehow become a dirty word.  Now people who advocate for peace are often ridiculed as out of touch hippies—relics from a defunct counterculture.  But isn’t peace something we all want?  From that word come many other positive words and phrases ("peaceful," "peace and quiet," "peace of mind").  We all seek peace in our personal lives, if only for moments a day.  So how has it become that the quest for peace in the larger context of the world and nations has become ridiculous to so many people in this country?

My thoughts below...

For a long time, we’ve heard that the United States and Iraq are both better off for our invasion of that country.  The WMD and terrorism claims have already been proven false numerous times.  The Bush Administration also makes certain humanitarian claims with respect to the current state of Iraq vs. under the Saddam Hussein regime.  Now I’m no fan of Saddam Hussein—I recognize the fact that he was a sadistic bastard and a war criminal, but there is no doubt that the Bush Administration has consistently overstated the positive affects of the regime change they fashioned

Follow me below the fold for a skewering of some of the ‘Yahoo Iraq War!’ rhetoric.

Forgive the non-political nature of this post, but we have playoff baseball coming this week.

And it's coming to Philadelphia, where the long-suffering fans (of which I am one) haven't tasted the post-season for 14 years.

So here is your thread to talk trash about the Major League Baseball playoffs.

I'll start below...

Started off pretty simply—we met for lunch at a nice restaurant in NY (I don’t want to give away the restaurant because Bill is a celebrity and I don’t want to give free advertising for the place.)  But suffice it to say, it was a very nice place specializing in French cuisine.  I found this surprising because we went there at Bill’s suggestion.  

More below...

So about 5 months ago, I bought a new 2007 Honda Civic hybrid.  I was coming to the point where I needed a new car and given the amount of driving I do, for economic and environmental reasons, I decided to go with a hybrid car.

A testimonial and poll below.

So by now most people here have seen the sad effort that was George W. Bush's speech about why a significant number of U.S. troops need to stay in Iraq indefinitely.  At the same time, he offered people the hopeful news that a portion of the troops will be coming home for Christmas and apparently for summer vacation next year, evidently expecting, like the shady used car salesman who doubles his prices immediately before a big 50% off sale, that the American public will simply forget that this "drawdown" will merely bring the troop levels back to where they were before the "surge".

More below the fold...