just a test

Just a test

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, fool…won’t get fooled again!”

Sometimes I wonder how it is that Bush is even close in this election. One thing that occurs to me is that people simply are loath to admit that they have been fooled. Bush & Co. have lied to them on nearly every subject imaginable, and I think a significant portion of the Bush electorate doesn’t want to admit they’ve been snookered.

Neocons are Idiots

One thing that seems to drive neocons crazy is that all these treaties, like the Geneva Conventions or the United Nations, that the US has or would enter into is that they confine American behavior. It seems that the neocons can’t really understand why on earth the US would enter into a treaty like that. What these idiots don’t want to acknowledge is that one doesn’t enter a treaty to modify one’s own behavior, one enters into a treaty to modify the other guy’s behavior. We didn’t enter into the Geneva Conventions because we wanted to curb our own behavior, but we wanted to curb the other guy’s behavior, and have them not torture our prisoners. Assuming these neocons forget that could explain why Al Gonzales, et al, sneer at the Geneva Conventions as “quaint” documents. What a bunch of assholes we have driving this nation’s foreign policy.

Jenna and Barbra's Blog

Funny fictional (who knows with these two?) blog from the Bush daughters, brought to you by the incomparable Eric Alterman:

Miller's Nuts

Nearly every word of of that twisted fuck Zell Miller's mouth was either a lie or completely misleading. For a look on how far off the deep end he's gone, check out this description of last nights' interview in which Miller longs for the days when he could have challenged Chris Matthews to a duel for asking Miller to substantiate a single charge.

Drug Costs? Blame Terrorists!

Kevin Drum had a good post that points out the infallibility of the bush administration—infallibility to amaze at their audacity.

Terrorist chatter is the reason we can’t import cheap drugs from Canada? Give me a break!

UPDATE: Another fine quote from Mr. Drum: Being an advisor to George Bush must be sort of like sweeping up after the elephants at the circus.

"Chinese Finger Puzzle"

Outstanding post by Josh Marshall in which, while reviewing a piece by Fred Kaplan in Slate, he compares the situation in Iraq to a Chinese finger puzzle, where the harder you try to get out, the more stuck you become. He notes that (paraphrasing Kaplan) every tactical victory is a strategic failure. Seems to me that’s a common theme of occupational forces involved in a quagmire. It certainly happened to us in Vietnam and to the Soviets in Afghanistan, and to the Brits in Iraq last century, and even for tactical covert victories (i.e., reinstalling Reza Pahlavi in Tehran in 1953). Trouble is, many observers saw this one coming. Why didn’t the president or his neocon henchmen? Maybe bush should read a book every now and again.

Tough to Keep Up

It’s getting hard to know what someone says. There really is a media echo chamber, because Kerry didn’t say what’s attributed to him.

You know, I think of myself as an reasonably informed person, one who is in fact, nerdfully obsessed with politics. But if you think you knew exactly what John Kerry said on Monday that has people so up in arms, follow the link below to The Daily Howler.