Just back from today’s hearings and just about Every Last Republican mentioned the idiotic MoveOn ad…also caught the beginning of Fox News, where–surprise, surprise–it played big. Couple of points: 1. This is a distraction from the main event. Usually the Republicans are the ones who’ve tried to change topics at a crucial Iraq moment…but MoveOn [...]
And I loved this part of the WP story about the Draper book: Clarke purportedly told Bolten she would rather commit suicide.
Missed this in my earlier wrap-up. According to the Draper book, Torie Clarke turned down the McClellan job, so Josh Bolten offered it to Tony Snow, despite how he “mangled several run-throughs — failing to recite the White House talking points on Iraq.” You’d think that might improve them; I would say that reciting WH [...]
Two thoughts on Gen. Petraeus’ opening remarks. First, his statement that the number of “security incidents” has declined in “8 out of the last 12 weeks” sounds very much like a statistic carefully constructed to gild a lilly lily. Second, MoveOn’s ad in the New York Times today makes some strong and fair points. But [...]
I don’t make the metaphors, I just point out the incredibly obvious opportunities for them: We Can’t Hear Petraeus!! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] So you think technology is bad in Iraq? The U.S. House of Representatives can’t get the commanding general a working mic in Washington, D.C. Ike Skelton seems to be offering to read his [...]
Obama’s Spanish translator, that’s who. I only caught a few minutes of last night’s Univision debate, but that was enough to notice that Univision seemed to have contracted different translators for each candidate, and they sounded as though they were trying to pass along personality as well as meaning. Obama’s guy was smooth and hip [...]
It seems he doesn’t hold the blogosphere in high regard: Last night on PBS’ The NewsHour, New York Times columnist David Brooks compared 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden’s latest video message to “lefty blogs,” saying the al Qaeda head is like “one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom of the page.”
• Iraqis didn’t welcome American troops with flowers because what they wanted was cigarettes! “‘[Al Qaeda] said, ‘You gotta quit smoking,’” Thompson explained to a questioner asking about progress in Iraq during a town hall-style meeting.” [NYDN] • “It seems safe to predict that Gore will not be endorsing the bid of the senator from [...]
