Drudgery

JK:

Just curious JK what did the President get right exactly that you claim without reference or proof? And secondly, the conference was scheduled for a least a month but was the SOTU address just scheduled last week?

Maybe spend more time reading how stupid the things you write are and less condemning Beck, Limbaugh et al.

Be truthful (for once). You would lob grenades whether she was there or not. God forbid she was only representing the country’s interests!

This clearly shows that neocows abhor a vacuum.

Yes Freep–

I learned about the Afghanistan conference from a State Department official in late December. He said it was more important than the usual conference and I might want to go.

As for the State of the Union Address, an Obama aide told me on January 12 that there was no precise date set yet, but it was likely to fall in the January 26-February 2 window. (You may remember that the White House was still hoping to pass health care before before the SOTU at that point.)

And what the President got “right” was the speech, which seems to have worked with the public and made the Republicans look like a Party of Mr. Potters yet again.

Maybe you should spend less time with Rush and Beck and more time with non-slanderous, more accurate news sources.

“Maybe spend more time reading how stupid the things you write are”
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Great writing, Yoda.

Per the article linked in the update. Paying a group to be on our side, or fight our enemy, is short-sighted policy. Filkins explains:
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While the Shinwaris are now united against the Taliban, if payments from the Americans falter or animosities flare with the Afghan government, the tribe could switch back just as quickly.
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I think also the policy ignores important developments within the Afghani Taliban:
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Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.
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(snip)
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Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar… was not present, but his representatives were keen to stress the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to al Qaeda. (link)
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Do you know if Clinton will address these talks and the offer by the leadership of the Taliban in early December to give “legal guarantees” that it will not allow Afghanistan to be used for attacks on other countries (link) while in Afghanistan?
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My personal take is that the administration is downplaying the potential for cooperation with the Taliban while exaggerating the threat they pose and Afghanistan’s potential for safe-haven– specifically so that the operation can continue. In other words, if the Taliban are cooperative, the “reasons” for the war cease to be relevant.
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More to the point: do the Taliban really require such expenditure?

Take that free-all-over … aren’t you going to react to that smack down by JK? …. he just answered your every query, then suggested you’re too dumb to think for your self so you regurgitate the none sense spewed by hateful ideologues … just breaking it down for you, in case you missed it.

JK:

If in December the WH thought they were getting a HC bill they were paying less attention than you.

The one poll I have seen shows 83% approving the speech. Talking is what liberals do best. Acting is the problem. At one point he bashes the Republicans for stopping his agenda. He failed to mention that the Demos controlled the WH, Senate (60 votes) and the House of Representatives and could not pass his agenda. Yes the Republicans looked bad. He gave a great speech for a petulant child.

JK: Once again you write of something you know nothing about. I have never watched Beck and haven’t listened to Rush for years. Maybe I should listem to the non-slanderous guys like little Chrissy Matthews or Keith Olbermann.

You are still circling the drain Joe.

Just curious, but my understanding was that someone in the line of succession couldn’t be present at the SOTU – just like Gates wasn’t present at Obama’s inauguration. Even if we assume they didn’t know about Afghanistan, wouldn’t it be an incredibly logical and reasonable conclusion that Clinton had missed the SOTU because she’d drawn the short straw? Why must the right come up with the most garbage arguments?

walkingfunny:

JK as usual has neither the facts nor a good argument on his side. He, like most liberals display the arrogance they are smarter than everyone and the stupidity to make blanket ASSumptions about people and things they know nothing. So before you wet yourself, take your meds and go back to the basement.

Thanks so much for engaging with commentary, Joe Klein.

If the Dems had maintained the Mass seat, they could’ve finished the rewrite, passed it this week, and done a victory lap next week called “highlighting their accomplishments in the State of the Union” – from their perspective, it was worth waiting to see if that would happen so they could use the SOTU to turn the page on Health Care and move on to the next issue. Obama was hoping, but that doesn’t mean he was ever going to get it.
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And if he never mentioned that the Dems controlled the House and Senate, what do you call the comment about how the Democrats have the “largest majority in decades, Americans expect you to act” (I can’t remember the exact quote). It was right before he fired the party of no shot.
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BTW: you’ll notice that over the past few days, MSNBC and particularly Keith Olbermann has had few supporters and plenty of detractors – the same people that regularly take you to task and comment about your reciting of Beck and Limbaugh garbage.

That was supposed to be in reply to 1.4

free-for-all:
what is it with “conservatives” and the basement?, is the closet no longer big enough?
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Your admission of listening to Limbaugh years ago tells a lot about you, if you can stomach his kind of rhetoric, what more needs to be said? BTW, I’m conservative, I just do not subscribe to the blind hate of people that I disagree with.
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How about you answer the charge by nflfoghorn that you were going to “lob grenades” either way. And don’t start with the juvenile defense “… well, the liberals do it too ….”
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The inane tit for tat is crazy, the nation needs all the bright ideas it can get now, but the only input from your type is the “take them down” attitude …. shame.

There is always at least one cabinet member missing due to concerns about presidential succession if the capitol was attacked. Maybe someone else besides Clinton was missing last night, but it seems reasonable to me that the one out should be secstate or homeland security. Do you want the country run by the secretary of agriculture in a great national emergency?

Actually, after checking Wikipedia, I found out that it was the Housing Secretary. That said, I would generally agree that it should be one of the big 4 and probably either of those 2.

walkingfunny:

“Your admission of listening to Limbaugh years ago tells a lot about you, if you can stomach his kind of rhetoric, what more needs to be said?”
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So you never listened to Limbaugh but you judge what he supposedly says based on….. ????? Having listened to him at least I can say why I don’t listen to him based oin my own experience. What are you using? Stupidity comes to mind.
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“How about you answer the charge by nflfoghorn that you were going to “lob grenades” either way. And don’t start with the juvenile defense “… well, the liberals do it too ….”"

Well juvenile defenses are shown here daily but that aside it would help if foghorn or you would have asked a complete question. Lob grenades either way on what? JK’s pathetic rationalization that he offers as journalism? On whether HRC was at the SOTU? which. Gladly answer if either can bother to formulate an intelligent question.
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“but the only input from your type is the “take them down” attitude”

“what is it with “conservatives” and the basement?

“BTW, I’m conservative, ”

Hmm what’s with conservative, I’m a conservative and your type. You seem at once confused and the same denigration you seem to object.

Speaking of tit for tat!

provocative statements–>attention–>ad revenue
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This point I think is lost on just about everyone. Rush, Ann Coulter, etc are also good examples of this. Keep fueling the fire, guys.

freeinpa, I listened to Limbaugh when he had a show in Sacramento. He was a billious, elitist then as now. A good deal of the time he spent making fun of the “red necks” that lived in Rio Linda. The rest of time he filled the air with the hate speech and misinformation he has now made an art form for the right.
The right has convinced themselves he respects the middle class. Dream on.

apr2563:

I made no defense of Limbaugh other than the fact that enlightened geniuses here including the illustrious journalists (sic) here like JK rant and rave about them. JK, you and the rest of the brilliant fair minded folks always seem to leave out the slanderous, lying,violence-inciting boobs that are on the left.

Thank you and your friends here for proving the point that truth to the folks on the left is a punch line.

freeinpa: If you’d been paying attention, people on this site have gone out of their way to bash MSNBC over the past week. Most of the people here can’t stand MSNBC’s BS as much as we can’t stand Fox’s BS. Why do we forget about MSNBC’s BS when blasting you over Limbaugh and Beck? It’s because when you say things that we disagree with, you generally are coming from the same side of the spectrum as Fox rather than the side of the spectrum that MSNBC is on. If a Liberal troll of your annoyance factor came along, we’d probably blast him for listening to too much Olbermann. Mind you, with an entire wing of the Republicans going, as JK puts it, Nihilist and far fewer Democrats getting close to that position, I’m not surprised we have 2 regular right-wing trolls and no notable left-wing trolls.