This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • “A terrible, terrible mistake”?

    So all of the federal cops went to Congress yesterday to report how well they did on the Detroit Christmas bomber case. The Washington Times reports on the caper;

    [Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair] said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should have been questioned by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG, a special panel established by President Obama.

    “We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have. Frankly, we were thinking more of overseas people. And, you know … that’s what we will do now. And so we need to make those decisions more carefully,” Mr. Blair told Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee.

    Yeah, so the HIG, which the Obama made som much noise about last summer, wasn’t used in favor of domestic law enforcement. And, now, maybe they’ll use the HIG next time.

    At the Senate hearing Wednesday, Ms. Napolitano, Mr. Blair and Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), all testified that they were not consulted when an FBI special agent and the Justice Department decided to try Mr. Abdulmutallab in a civilian court.

    Sure, why not? If you ask an FBI special agent and a Justice Department lawyer and no one else how a case should be handled, is there any doubt what the answer will be.

    Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said the decision to try Mr. Abdulmutallab in federal court was a “terrible, terrible mistake.”

    Thanks for standing up, McCain, but we probably need to use stronger words. Something like “What are you guys? Incurable fuckups? The Three Stooges? Keystone Kops? Give me one reason I shouldn’t call for your immediate execution.”

    When asked why the NCTC failed to put Mr. Abdulmutallab on the proper no-fly lists, Mr. Blair said security analysts had been pressured in the past to reduce the no-fly lists and not to add new names.

    “As you read through the guidance given to analysts that they were expected to cast a very fishy eye on the inclusion of lots more — lots more names,” Mr. Blair said. “And the pressure was in the other direction. Shame on us for giving into that pressure.”

    Shame? That’s all? Shame? Thankfully the terrorist was only marginally more of a buffoon than our own government. I’m sure our luck will hold.

  • “Are the voters crazy?”

    This is what you have to believe to be a Democrat today. It’s a ten minute clip but you have to watch the whole thing to soak up all of the insanity. Howard Dean explains to Chris Matthews how yesterday’s special election results means Massachusetts voters want more healthcare;

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    To his credit, like the rest of America, Matthews ain’t buyin’ that line of crap.

    Ripped off from Ace of Spades.

  • Um, it wasn’t the campaign

    I’ve been reading all morning that the Democrats are blaming Coakley for her poor campaign against Scott Brown. Eugene Robinson, who writes his column in the Washington Post from under President Obama’s desk, says “Ho-Hum”;

    You’d think from the overheated commentary that this was the end of the world (as we know it). Instead of having 20 more votes in the Senate than the Republicans, the Democrats now have only 18 more votes. Run for your lives.

    Yeah, Robinson is the only person on the planet that doesn’t think the Obama domestic agenda isn’t dead. But then he’s never been firmly rooted in reality.

    EJ Dionne doesn’t stop at just blaming Coakley – he blames all of the Democrats for their pre-election hand-wringing in the media;

    There is one thing worse than losing an election. It’s losing your dignity, your credibility and your sense of responsibility.

    Long before Republican Scott Brown was declared the victor in Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate special election, Democrats turned on each other with an unseemliness that does not behoove a party that wants to hold power.

    The truth is that everyone who is attacking someone else shares responsibility for this loss. This race was the Democrats’ to lose, and they managed to lose it.

    No, actually, the race was the Democrats to win and they lost it. Remember last month when it was absolutely imperative that health care reform get passed before the end of the year? Apparently it was imperative. The more time it took to pass it, the more people learned what Congress was cobbling together for each other. Massachusetts residents apparently read newspapers, too.

    Ruth Marcus absurdly warns us against judging Obama too early;

    Having covered the inauspicious start of Bill Clinton’s presidency, I know that the first-quarter grades of first-term presidents are poor predictors. This administration’s performance has been far from perfect. But in the panic of the moment, the easy criticism is not necessarily correct, and the caricature is not an accurate portrait.

    Aside from the fact that he hasn’t accomplished anything, I guess we can proclaim that the best of Obama is yet to come. That’s an easy bar to clear. In the final hours of the Coakley/Brown race, Obama pleaded with Massachusetts voters to save his domestic agenda and in one fell swoop, Massachusetts voters rejected Obama and his slickery.

    No matter how much the White House and the pundits try to blame Coakley for her poor campaign, it should have made no difference with the appearance and pleadings of the President. He made the Massachusetts election about him, and the glaring realities of last night’s outcome should give Democrats the jitters for November.

  • Fear-mongering in Massachusetts

    Editor’s note: I wrote this like eight hours ago so it’s stale old crap. But, I wrote it damn it, you’re readin’ it.

    Massachusetts’ Senator John Kerry is doing his best to get the crowds charged up against Scott Brown’s supporters, according to Boston.com;

    “I’m no stranger to hard fought campaigns, but what we’ve seen in the past few days is way over the line and reminiscent of the dangerous atmosphere of Sarah Palin’s 2008 campaign rallies. This is not how democracy works in Massachusetts,” Kerry said this afternoon in a statement.

    “Scott Brown needs to speak up and get his out of state tea party supporters under control. In Massachusetts, we fight hard and win elections on the issues and on our differences, not with bullying and threats,” Kerry said.

    Brown campaign spokesman Felix Browne said, “People are tired of John Kerry’s partisan politics. His baseless accusations reflect the desperate last gasps of a flailing campaign.”

    Daniel Foster at NRO recalls Kerry’s fear-mongering in Colorado during the 2004 Presidential campaign;

    “If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a ‘pre-emptive strike’ (particularly well-suited to states in which there techniques have been tried in the past).

    —Issue a press release

    i. Reviewing Republican tactic used in the past in your area or state

    ii. Quoting party/minority/civil rights leadership as denouncing tactics that discourage people from voting

    —Prime minority leadership to discuss the issue in the media; provide talking points

    —Place stories in which minority leadership expresses concern about the threat of intimidation tactics

    —Warn local newspapers not to accept advertising that is not properly disclaimed or that contains false warnings about voting requirements and/or about what will happen at the polls”

    Johnny Dollar, the only guy still keeping an eye on Olbermann watched him call Brown “a homophobic racist;

    Joe Scarborough wasted no time blasting back at Olbermann.

    Mean time, the President is promising to be combative if Brown wins according to Hot Air;

    But the president’s advisers plan to spin [Brown’s win] as a validation of the underdog arguments that fueled Obama’s insurgent candidacy.

    “The painstaking campaign for change over two years in 2007 and 2008 has become a painstaking effort in the White House, too,” the official said. “The old habits of Washington aren’t going away easy.”

    Indeed.

  • Fruits of the drizzle

    Remember back in August when General McCrystal asked the Obama administration for some more resources to fight the war in Afghanistan and we were told by the administration and the talking heads that there was no reason to rush a decision because winters were calm and the Taliban didn’t fight in the winter.

    Well, tell me what this is;

    An attack in which the Taliban claimed to have infiltrated key government sites in central Kabul killed five people on Monday morning, hospital officials said.

    Thirty-eight other people were injured, said Dr. Kabir Amiri, head of Kabul hospitals. Afghan security forces were among the casualties, he added, without clarifying.

    At least two explosions and gunfire shook central Kabul about 9:20 a.m. Monday, with the Taliban saying it was conducting a militant operation.

    The attack started as 14 members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s Cabinet were to be sworn in, said Parliament member Fawzia Koofi.

    About 20 Taliban insurgents entered the presidential palace; the ministries of finance, mines and justice; and the Serena Hotel, said spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid. The militants claimed responsibility for at least one explosion.

    Surprise, the Taliban read the newspapers, too. Last month, the military announced that the “drizzle” of troops won’t be in place until August, that no one is in a big hurry to put forces in the war. So who is surprised that the Taliban took advantage of that?

  • The Jarhead Thread

    There have been a few stories that I have been wanting to blog about involving the Marines, so instead of making several posts I have decided to make one. I think it will make it easier to comment and for you Army pukes to talk to trash. Enjoy…

    22nd MEU Deploying to Haiti

    These Marines just got off a six-month long deployment, most of it spent in Kuwait and other parts of the Middle East. I doubt many of the Marines that are part of this MEU are happy about this and I have no doubt if Bush were still President I’m sure Katie Couric would be in Jacksonville interviewing families about the strain this emergency deployment is putting on them. Oh the double standard…

    Politics aside, a MEU is the best equipped military unit to handle a disaster like this. A MEU has a perfect mix of equipment for operations like this, including its own fleet of helicopters, amphibious vehicles, and engineering equipment. I saw a report on CNN that said the road leading out of the main port in Port-au-Prince was heavily damaged and most of the unloading equipment was destroyed in the earthquake. The 22nd MEU can offload supplies onto any beach in Haiti while its combat engineers repair the roads and equipment at the port. This is why almost every year the three forward deployed MEUs (one out of Japan, Pendleton, and Lejuene) conduct multiple humanitarian missions every year.

    A little side story about the Marines that responded to Hurricane Katrina. Most of the Marines were rotated out when they had been in the disaster zone 29 days. Why 29 days? Because at 30 days the Marine Corps the would have to start paying separation allowances and hazardous duty pay. Most Marines were also denied the Humanitarian Service Medal, probably by a bunch of pogue officers that the closest they got to New Orleans was an office in Quantico. I wonder if this will happen again…

    San Diego Man Pleads Guilty for Posing as Marine Two Star General

    One place where it is probably not a good idea to fake being a general is at a VFW hall, especially on the Marine Corps’ birthday. But then again, you have to be pretty stupid to attempt something like this in the first place.

    Scott Ritter Arrested in Online Sex Sting……AGAIN

    What does this have to do with the Marines? Well, just like Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles Whitman, and John Wayne Bobbitt, Scott Ritter was a former Marine. His first arrest wasn’t widely reported, for reasons unknown to me (maybe it had something to do with his views on the Iraq War…) Hopefully they will keep his dumbass locked up this time.

    Last Marines Leave Iraq

    The last Marines are leaving Iraq this month, officially turning everything over to the Army and the Iraqis. When the Marines rolled into Anbar in 2004, it was the center of the Sunni insurgency. Today, it is one of the most stable parts of Iraq and has seen the quickest drawdown of American forces. The Marine Corps, Army, and Navy (the SEALs, EOD, Seabees, Corpsmans, etc.) and even the Air Force (especially in retrograde of equipment) all contributed to the victory there and it should be a point of pride in all the services.

    Semper Fidelis….

  • Zombie Kennedy wants his Senate seat back

    The ghoulish Democrat Party has disinterred the rotting corpse of Ted Kennedy to defeat Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown. Apparently, Kennedy’s widow is complicit in the macabre plot to seat Zombie Kennedy in the Senate once again;

    victoria-and-zombie-kennedy

    A radical right wing plot to prevent Kennedy from taking his seat back has come to the attention of Harry Reid, so he’s joined in the conspiracy to return Kennedy’s corpse to the Senate;

    harry-reid-zombie-kennedy

    Reanimating a guy no one really liked to resuscitate a healthcare plan no one needs.

  • Whose activism is this?

    The Washington Post writes this morning that Republican activists are battling for “Ted Kennedy’s seat” in Massachusetts. I don’t know how they figure that seat belongs to the late Kennedy unless his fat ass is still stuck to the damn chair;

    Fueled by the energy of conservative activists, a solid debate performance and a 24-hour, $1.3 million Internet fundraising haul, Massachusetts state Sen. Scott Brown (R) has thrown a major scare into the Democratic establishment in his bid to win next Tuesday’s special Senate election over once heavily favored Attorney General Martha Coakley.

    The intensified activity around the campaign to fill the seat of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D) highlights the degree to which the race has taken on national significance. A victory, or even a narrow loss, by Brown in the competition for the symbolically important seat would be interpreted as another sign that voters have turned away from the Democrats at the start of the midterm election year.

    But, I got a note from my BFFs at Organizing for America this morning;

    ofa-mass-to-md

    I guess the Democrats figure that Marylanders are smarter than Massachusans when it comes to finding polling places in Massachusetts. Or more reliably Democrat. But the Post makes it sound like the only cranks in this debate are Conservatives tilting at windmills, but in this case it looks like the windmills are at least a little bit worried, too.

    Added: Brown Neck Gator send along this video in which David Gergen calls the vacant seat in Massachusetts “Teddy Kennedy’s seat” and Brown corrects him;

    Actually, it’s not the people’s seat either – it’s the Commonwealth’s seat.