On March 12, 2004, George Bush said this in a celebration concering "global women’s human rights": PRESIDENT BUSH: I want to thank my friend, Dr. Raja Khuzai, who’s with us today. This is the third time we have met. The first time we met, she walked into the Oval Office — let’s see, was it the first time? It was … Read More
More “Blame The Media”
Shorter John Hindrocket: Soldiers are supposed to die, so stop telling me about it. Powerline blogger John Hindrocket finally acknowledges that the majority of Americans are now against the war in Iraq. But it’s the media’s fault, for only reporting the casualty count, he says, and nothing else: Not only do news outlets generally fail to report the progress that … Read More
The Faithful
This is interesting, I thought: A new poll finds that the more often Americans go to church, the more supportive they are of U.S. foreign policy, including the war in Iraq. The poll by Public Agenda finds that people who frequently attend worship services are far more likely to support the war on terror and believe that the United States … Read More
Who To Believe?
To hear right wingers talk (at least today), recruitment levels in the Army are just fine. From New York Post columnist Ralph Peters (via Powerline), we get this today: Every one of the Army’s 10 divisions — its key combat organizations — has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq … Read More
Bush’s Propaganda Offensive Fails To Inspire
Bush took some time off from his record-breaking vacation to give a "major address" intended to shore up support for the Iraq War, which is going badly and causing even conservatives to question. So Bush gave the speech, and it was the same thing as always. A friendly audience of war veterans, and so on. And the speech itself? A … Read More
Not Angry
In response to a comment on that his blog is "full of hatred and anger", Corrente not only denied the charge, but set out to compile a list of things he was not angry about, as well as things he doesn’t hate. It’s not only long, but a work-in-progress, so check out Corrente’s site for the latest revisions and updates: … Read More
Women And Iraq
UPDATE: Think Progress (via LQ) reminds us of what the Bushes said not even a year-and-a-half-ago: “The advance of women’s rights and the advance of liberty are ultimately inseparable.” – President Bush, 3/14/04 “President Bush has made the advance of women’s human rights a global policy priority. … We all have an obligation to speak for women who are denied … Read More
Democracy In Iraq – For Men Only?
It is now common knowledge that the new Iraqi Constitution will be grounded in Islamic law which, as everyone knows, spells bad news for the women of Iraq. Most of them will actually have been better off under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein where they enjoyed western-style equality for more than 40 years. What do the neo-cons say about … Read More
Not What They Need
From Yahoo News: "If you believe the liberal media’s reporting on the American military effort in Iraq, you’re almost forced to be ashamed of America," the Media Research Center, a conservative media-watchdog group, said in a recent message to potential donors. In return for a donation, the organization will send a specially inscribed military-style dog tag to a soldier in … Read More
Swiftboating Sheehan Fails To Pay Off
Frank Rich: THIS summer in Crawford, the White House went to this playbook once too often. When Mr. Bush’s motorcade left a grieving mother in the dust to speed on to a fund-raiser, that was one fat-cat party too far. The strategy of fighting a war without shared national sacrifice has at last backfired, just as the strategy of Swift … Read More
More Rats
NRO’s Andrew McCarthy, NOT the one from "Weekend at Bernie’s" pictured here, rejects the Iraqi War now, too: For what it’s worth, this is where I get off the bus. The principal mission of the so-called “war on terror” – which is actually a war on militant Islam – is to destroy the capacity of the international network of jihadists … Read More
Like Rats From A Sinking Ship
Militias are on the rise, the Iraqi Constitution is founded in Islamic law (making Iraq a theocracy, not a democracy), and we’re going to be in Iraq until 2009. So much for the quick and easy victory, roses at our feet, etc. Which probably explains why conservative blogger and smart guy Professor Bainbridge writes: It’s time for us conservatives to … Read More
Republicans Nervous, And With Good Reason
The NY Times: A stream of bad news out of Iraq, echoed at home by polls that show growing impatience with the war and rising disapproval of President Bush’s Iraq policies, is stirring political concern in Republican circles, party officials said Wednesday. They are referring to Republican party officials, as in: "There is just no enthusiasm for this war,” said … Read More
So Where Are The Reporters?
On–air admission from Chris Matthews: MATTHEWS: What I keep doing here is asking people on and off camera who come on this program, high-ranking officers, enlisted, former officers. I get sometimes, not all the time, two different versions, the version they give me on the air and the version they give me the minute when we’re off the air. The … Read More
Ann Coulter: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
I love her: To expiate the pain of losing her firstborn son in the Iraq war, Cindy Sheehan decided to cheer herself up by engaging in Stalinist agitprop outside President Bush’s Crawford ranch. I don’t think she went to Crawford to "cheer herself up". But note that we’re only one sentence in, and we have more amature psychology from the … Read More