Barack Obama advocates engaging the Iranians diplomatically as a more useful strategy than saber-rattling and refusing to talk to them.  Obama is called an appeaser and (much) worse with great disdain by both the administration and the McCain camp for daring to even suggest it. This week, the US sent a diplomatic envoy to the Iran-Europe talks as "an observer" for the very first time.  Hmmm.  You say coincidence?

'Cos I move like THEY do...

Sorry guys. this is just one picture, but I really had to do a diary on it. b/c it's funny.

See title.

I would have more to say, but the flouride in my water, the genetically modified foods in my stomach, and the trans fat in my blood has my ability to think limited.

  Tom Friedman, who gets paid far too much money for what he writes, and takes up far too much valuable editorial space in the NY Times has done it again. 9/11 and 4/11 is his complaint that Bush has wasted too much time while doing nothing that might actually  work with regards to the energy situation. Friedman is 'outraged'

I am reliably told by a Bush administration official that there is an old saying in Texas that goes like this: “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”

Could anyone possibly come up with a better description of President Bush’s energy policy? America is in the midst of its worst energy crisis in years and what is the big decision our Decider has decided? Drum roll, please: Our Decider decided to lift the executive orders banning drilling for oil and natural gas off the country’s shoreline — even though he knew this was a meaningless gesture because a Congressional moratorium on drilling passed in 1981 remains in force.

Well DUH!

If you're wondering why the Maliki "correction" issued by CentCom doesn't sound like a "correction" and doesn't specify what needs to be "corrected," you're missing the point.Bush and McCain aren't trying to get Maliki to retract the  his statement in terms of the policy he endorsed, they just want to salvage a meme they have been carefully cultivating since the beginning of the month: namely, that Obama has supported some mythical position called "precipitous withdrawal" and that the reiteration of his old position over the July 4th weekend constituted a "flip-flop." Now, with the insanity surrounding Maliki's statements, we can clearly see that this campaign wasn't just an effort to make Obama look indecisive and inconsistent. The campaign, facilitated by a shamefully compliant media (and even some progressive bloggers), was intended to give McCain cover to steal Obama's policy.

This diary is composed of two sections.  In the first half, I will recap some of what we know about the immense impact of media narratives in Presidential campaigns, and argue that the emergence of the recent "flip-flop" narrative on Obama has done more damage than most people realize, reducing his lead by more than 3 million votes.  In the second section, I will argue that a new narrative is forming right now, based on a fortuitous combination of inexplicable reversals on foreign policy by the Bush administration in the direction of Obama’s long-held policies at the very moment that Obama begins his high-profile trip abroad.  Now is the time for us to do what we can to spread this narrative, and if done correctly, it could potentially leave McCain in a position from which he cannot recover.

Follow me over the fold for the full argument...

On a day of victory for the Democrats, America suffered yet another setback against it's reputation, and November can not come soon enough.

Now even the UK, a stalwart American ally, can not trust what they are told when it comes to assurances on torture - and in my opinion, by extension of this, a great many other things as well.

"The committee's conclusions amount to saying that we can no longer rely on assurances from a US administration that purports to uphold the civil and political standards of behaviour, while in fact kidnapping people and taking them to places where they may be maltreated." - Andrew Tyrie MP

Neocon godfather Irving Kristol once famously said that "a neoconservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality."  By that standard, the political right will need to coin an altogether new term to describe John McCain in the wake of the beating he has taken over the past several days.  In the span of just two weeks, McCain has seen Barack Obama's call for a strategic refocus from Iraq to Afghanistan validated by the Pentagon and in Baghdad.  And now, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has come out in favor of Obama's approach to drawing down U.S. forces in his country.

After last week’s adventure in craziness, watching my "team" descend into the same hysteria that Limbaugh and (I love Keith’s name for him) Bill-o the Clown propagates, I announced that I could not consort with the sort of seriously bonkers crowd that hangs around Daily Kos, and would henceforth move my invaluable wares to the TPM Café.  I decided to post my unbelievably boffo essay about how the New Yorker cover was likely to cost Sen Obama the election since it would be taken as proof positive by the rubes out there that what they thought to be true had been proven on both sites.   Amazingly, the crazies found it at both places and said roughly the same thing.  (One poster sought to assure me that the cover wasn’t so bad that Senator Obama could still recover from it.  I thanked him).

However you define leadership, Barack Obama has an overabundance of it and has done something unprecedented with his ability, no pun intended.

1848 - The first women's rights convention, called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia C. Mott, was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

1870 - The Franco-Prussian war began.

COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!

Quote:
"In the early days of woman-suffrage agitation, I saw that the greatest obstacle we had to overcome was the bible. It was hurled at us on every side."
-- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, at Seneca Falls, 1848

From the CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:

Now that it seems certain impeachment isn’t going to happen, I’ve been thinking about what other recourse Americans have to ensure that justice is done – what we can do to remember, revile, punish, and avoid repeating the deeds of the worst President this country has ever had.

Amazingly as GWB keeps moving closer to Obama's Iraq policy, finally the MSM takes notice and reports that in fact GWB has moved towards Obama's policy.  As Keith Olberman said,"Mr. President, if you would like to follow Obama's lead for foriegn policy over the next 6 1/2 months that is fine with us."

http://www.nytimes.com/...

I was watching the Situation Room today while eating my lunch, and I nearly choked on a cucumber when I heard this from Republican strategist Terry Jeffrey:

The question is, is Medicare socialism? My answer is yes, of course it is. Socialism is government ownership of something.

... of Cheney, or Bush, isn't going to happen.
There simply isn't enough time left on the play clock.

That doesn't mean that Kucinich and company are tilting at windmills, however. The impeachment movement is fulfilling a very important role, one vital to the welfare of our democracy. It is using the Republican's most potent weapon against them.
Fear.
Not the same way they use it against us. We are making them fear for the only thing they really care about... their own asses.
Nope, impeachment isn't going to happen. But that's OK.

I'm a fan of Digg. I was reading through the top ranked stories the other day and came across a January 17, 2001 story from the Onion, the title being Bush: "Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over".

Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

President-elect Bush vows that "together, we can put the triumphs of the recent past behind us."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

You would think those are just "general" things from the Onion, a site based on satire and humor. Well normally I laugh when reading the Onion, not this time.

Here we go again. The Mouth of Bush speaketh yet another time with its last gasping, dying breath. It senses November approaching and knows that the End is Near. So what's there to lose?  I am sure you've all heard statements from Bush administration and so-called Iraqi government regarding something something troop reduction/withdrawal something. I call it "so called" Iraqi government because it would not last a month without direct U.S. logistical, military and financial support. Please join me as we look at this latest attempt by Bushists to say nothing concrete yet appear to promise something the voters want.