Archive for September, 2007

According to the toons… What’s up Doc?

Go here to read this (and more):

As Friedman, Brooks and Kristol are all too willing to mislead, it is left to a rabbit, a duck, and a bald-headed hunter to break it down, so that all may understand.

[Thanks to Natasha at Pacific Views]

Trying to get a rise out of his 4th District constituants, Doc Hastings was quick to jump on the latest MoveOn.org ad (ironically hosted on Hastings own site).

In Hastings press release he states:

The American people rightfully expect us to set political agendas aside and focus today on what our military commanders have to say.

Ok… fair enough. He goes on…

By denouncing the assessment before it’s even public, it’s clear MoveOn.org has no interest in a non-partisan evaluation by military leaders and would rather play politics with our troops and our homeland security.

Hmm… fair enough on the surface but did they actually denounce the assessment?

General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts. In 2004, just before the election, he said there was “tangible progress” in Iraq and that “Iraqi leaders are stepping forward.” And last week Petraeus, the architectof the escalation of troops in Iraq, said, “We say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we can to build on that progress.”

Sounds to me like they have been listening.

Every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge strategy has failed. Yet the General claims a reduction in violence. That’s because, according to the New York Times, the Pentagon has adopted a bizarre formula for keeping tabs on violence. For example, deaths by car bombs don’t count. The Washington Post reported that assassinations only count if you’re shot in the back of the head — not the front. According to the Associated Press, there have been more civilian deaths and more American soldier deaths in the past three months than in any other summer we’ve been there. We’ll hear of neighborhoods where violence has decreased. But we won’t hear that those neighborhoods have been ethnically cleansed.

So if there is a new formula for counting bodies, I wonder if the General is using that as a tally in the report? Geez Doc, I think I’d like to know more!

Most importantly, General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows: Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war. We may hear of a plan to withdraw a few thousand American troops. But we won’t hear what Americans are desperate to hear: a timetable for withdrawing all our troops. General Petraeus has actually said American troops will need to stay in Iraq for as long as ten years.

Sounds like they were anxiosly waiting to hear his testimony.

Today, before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us.

Perhaps that is exactly the case, and maybe not. But wouldn’t it be great if Doc Hastings was actually concerned with the truth on Iraq. It would be even better if he was even slightly suspect of reports such as today’s. It would go a long way to showing his district that he wasn’t just a Bush waterboy and issued a press release saying “I’m concerned about being sure we are getting all the facts”. But I guess there isn’t a doubt in Hastings mind… unlike most of the country.

So before you take a bite of the road apple Hastings just tossed out there and get all outraged, take a step back and think about it. Should you get your hackles up about a MoveOn.org attack ad, or all the spoonfed lies Doc has repeated about the success of this war… to you?

Take a deep breath… You’ll figure it out.

Oh wow. What fortunes bestow democrats now! What a state of denial!

Doesn’t this guy have enough money to cruise bathrooms off the public payroll? Egad!!!!!

A Bob Dylan fan… I know I am.

(thanks Darryl - And Russ Fiengold)