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Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
Daily Kos —
... some competition. So if so many of us, including President Obama himself, want that public option, how come we're not getting one? Because the medicine that could cure our healthcare nightmare has been poisoned from Day One – fatally adulterated, thanks to the infamous, Washington revolving door. Movers and shakers rotate between government and the private sector at a speed so dizzying they forget for whom they’re supposed to be working. Frank Rich: Let’s be clear: Those who demanded that America divert its ...
If it's Sunday, it's President McCain
Political Animal —
... (July 2, March 8, and January 25). His appearance on "State of the Union" today will be his third visit since February (October 11, August 2, and February 15). Not bad for a senator in the minority, who isn't in the party leadership, who has no role in any important negotiations, and who has offered no significant pieces of legislation. The interview, as I understand it, was pre-recorded on Friday, which is a shame. I would have liked to see John King ask the Arizona senator about Frank Rich's column today, which emphasized McCain's record of being consistently ...
Discussing Afghanistan, McCain Dodges Question On ‘Whether We Should Have’ Invaded Iraq
Think Progress —
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been a regular face on the Sunday morning talk shows this year, primarily because, as ABC’s George Stephanopoulos has said, he “is the leading GOP voice on Afghanistan” (despite the fact that he has consistently been wrong about the war there.)
McCain made his 14th Sunday show appearance since January on CNN today to discuss Afghanistan. During the interview, McCain again called on President Obama to ramp up U.S. troop levels there, modeled after the “surge” in Iraq. “Many see a ...
Read all about Donviti Addition, 10/11/2009
Delaware Liberal —
The only thing you need to read this morning is this BRILLIANT Frank Rich piece that rips “wrong-way” Mccain a new pie hole. The more and more you listen to this re-focus on Afghanistan the more it sounds like Iraq. These guys are so full of shit and the media are more than happy to let them. War sells newspapers. The rhetorical sleights of hand in the hawks’ arguments don’t end there. If you listen carefully to McCain and his neocon echo chamber, you’ll notice certain tics. President Obama better make his decision by tomorrow, or Armageddon (if not mushroom clouds) will ...
Hullabaloo — ... (September 27, August 23, and May 10), and 'Fox News Sunday' three times (July 2, March 8, and January 25). His appearance on 'State of the Union' today will be his third visit since February (October 11, August 2, and February 15). Not bad for a senator in the minority, who isn't in the party leadership, who has no role in any important negotiations, and who has offered no significant pieces of legislation.Not bad for a failed presidential candidate who has been so completely wrong on so many things: To appreciate this crowd’s spotless record of ...
Rich: Time for McCain to STFU About Afghanistan Surge
Hoffmania! —
... A tough (and well-deserved) smackdown of war's number one cheerleader by Frank Rich...reminding us what we'd be dealing with if the teabaggers, radio geniuses, teevee pundits and stupids got their way last November. ...
NYT Frank Rich on Afghanistan
Open Left - Quick Hits's RSS Feed —
... opinion column by the New York Time's Frank Rich explaining why pouring more troops into Afghanistan is unlikely to be productive and sharply criticizing Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsay Graham and other hawks who have been wrong about all of their prognostications for the past 8 years about Iraq and Afghanistan and are probably wrong now. The article has lots of links substantiating the misdiagnoses and erroneous prescriptions of John McCain in particular.
Two Wrongs Make Another Fiasco, by Frank Rich, New York Times, Sunday, October 11, 2009 ...
Frank Rich: McCain Was Wrong On Everything. CNN Treats Him As Sage
Firedoglake —
On Sunday morning, CNN will interview not-President John McCain, as though he were America’s most important sage.
CNN’s State of the Union: “In an exclusive interview this Sunday, John speaks with Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, about the war in Afghanistan, the latest on the health care debate, and much ...
John McCain Dodges Question Of Whether Invading Iraq Was A Mistake
Crooks and Liars —
... right? Honestly, you think the problem of attrition in the Afghan army has to do with them worried that they won't succeed ? Do you even know what success looks like in Afghanistan? Do you have the hubris to assume that it looks the same for the Afghanis? As Frank Rich says, Two Wrongs Makes Another Fiasco : Let’s be clear: Those who demanded that America divert its troops and treasure from Afghanistan to Iraq in 2002 and 2003 — when there was no Qaeda presence in Iraq — bear responsibility for the chaos in Afghanistan that ensued. Now they have the nerve to imperiously ...
The Passion of President McCain
The Moderate Voice —
If the election had gone the other way, Americans would have been spared all this doubt and deliberation about the Middle East.
Asked whether adding 10 or 20,000 troops for Afghanistan would suffice, John McCain tells CNN it would be “an error of historic proportions” not to meet Gen. McChrystal’s request for 40,000 or more.
If Barack Obama were as sure of anything as McCain is of everything, there would be no need for agonizing over what conservative Peggy Noonan calls “a choice between two hells”:
“The hell of withdrawal is what kind of drama would fill the vacuum, who ...
Sunday Morning Came and Went
d r i f t g l a s s —
In which I find myself being a little harsh with that nice Roger Ebert and that nice Frank Rich, links to both of whom landed in my email box this weekend. Both Frank's and Roger's pieces were thoughtful and well-written -- (Shorter Rich: "Why the fuck are the asshats who have been wrong about everything for the last eight years still being listened to?" Shorter Ebert: "My God! Can you believe how fucking unhinged the Right has become?") -- but both left me feeling strangely...meh. Like reading ...
Afghanistan About-Face -- By: Mark Salter
Articles on National Review Online —
... He recently disparaged Sen. John McCain, as well as Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, for their temerity in arguing -- as President Obama and Frank Rich have as recently as this summer -- that Afghanistan remains a war of necessity. Rather than offer a serious argument for why that is no longer the case (and his assertion that the war of necessity has quite suddenly and exclusively relocated to Pakistan does not count as serious), Rich did all he has the character and talent for: project his own unattractive attribute onto his targets. ...
We Didn't Do It
Eschaton —
In the accountability-free era, it isn't really any surprise that no one actually takes responsibility for anything. As Frank Rich wrote on Sunday about a different subject. This shameless argument assumes — perhaps correctly — that no one in this country remembers anything. 5 years from now it will probably be a "fact" that ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act caused the housing bubble. ...
Salter v. Rich -- By: Rich Lowry
The Corner on National Review Online —
Don’t miss Mark Salter’s piece on Frank Rich on the homepage today. What struck me about Rich’s Sunday column is that he apparently doesn’t realize that, on his own terms, the Afghan war was won—by George W. Bush. If there are only 100 members of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and little danger of them coming back (and little hope of improving such a corrupt, impoverished country), we won the war there, to the extent we could, long ago. ...
Dr. J.'s Commentary: Afghanistan, President Obama, and Nobel Intentions
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash —
On Afghanistan Policy: Obama and the GOP Commenting on a column by Prof. Andrew Bacevich (republished on The Planetary Movement), I noted that looking backward (and some noted this some years ago), it was obvious that the number one foreign/military objective of the Cheney/Bush administration was to create Permanent War. It would benefit their party politically over the long term. It would also benefit the major economic interests their party represents: the wealthy, the extractive industries, the military industry, and all of the others, large and small, opposed to any major reforms in domestic policy. Using anger and fear, their ...
McCain Gets An Opponent For His Senate Seat
DownWithTyranny! —
Does Glassman have what it takes to vanquish a long in the tooth Goliath? I can't remember whose joke this was but I heard it on Columbus Day. Someone mentions John McCain to Christopher Columbus and he asks if it's the same McCain who was on the Pinta... Everyone knows who John McCain is; he's the guy that picked Sarah ...
Two Things on Pakistan -- By: Rich Lowry
The Corner on National Review Online —
Opponents of the McChrystal plan--both within the Obama administration and among the newly minted liberal critics of the Afghan war--have advanced a couple of arguments recently.
One that I noted here a few weeks ago is that the Pakistanis love us so much, thanks to the magic of Obama, that we now can better prosecute the war on terror there with drones, etc. The Washington Post had barely repeated this spin when a spate of stories appeared on how angry the Pakistanis are with us over offending language in the new aid bill. So much for the wonders Obama had worked in the relationship (to be fair, the language came ...
The Case for Humility in Afghanistan
RealClearPolitics - Homepage —
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES October 11, 2009 The Real Peace Prize Will Be Elusive Peter Baker, New York Times WASHINGTON From the rooftop of a mud house overlooking the Shomali Plain, the white explosions in the distance and the red streak of artillery fire and the occasional thunderclaps echoing across the valley announced the... more ›› October 11, 2009 How to Sell a War: First, Start to Win Graham Bowley, New York Times As President Obama recalculates how to fight in Afghanistan, he might bear this in mind: The public has held up an hourglass before every recent wartime president so he can measure its patience. There is only one ...
McCain To Make His 15th Appearance On A Sunday Show This Year
Think Progress —
... vote on any major bills; and he’s not a member of the GOP leadership. He’s just another far-right senator, with precious little to say that couldn’t have been predicted in advance. Indeed, we already know exactly what he’s going to say this week.”
Two weeks ago, ABC’s George Stephanoplous justified booking McCain on This Week arguing that he “is the leading GOP voice on Afghanistan.” Yet McCain has consistently been off the mark when in comes to the war there. In fact, during McCain’s ...
Sunday show bookers refuse to read Political Animal
Political Animal —
SUNDAY SHOW BOOKERS REFUSE TO READ POLITICAL ANIMAL.... Maybe I should start taking this personally . Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been booked for yet another Sunday talk show appearance this weekend -- this time on CBS' Face The Nation. Despite a "wildly unsuccessful presidential campaign" last year and his comparative irrelevancy in the U.S. Senate, this will mark the 15th time McCain has appeared on a Sunday talk show since January. For crying out loud. As of this weekend, there will have been 40 Sundays since President Obama's inauguration in January. With his 15th Sunday show appearance, McCain will have been a guest on one of the ...
He's not an expert
Political Animal —
HE'S NOT AN EXPERT.... NBC's First Read notes the inexplicable Republican man of the hour on U.S. policy in Afghanistan. ( via Jonathan Chait ) For those of us who followed nearly every minute of the 2008 presidential campaign, it's fascinating to watch how John McCain has become the GOP point person in arguing that July 2011 is a date certain that will embolden the enemy. For starters, McCain never called for more troops to Afghanistan until July 15, 2008 -- nearly a year after Obama; for McCain, Iraq was the center on the war on terrorism, not Afghanistan. Second, he never put up much a fight when the Iraqi government and Bush ...
