Another glimpse into the Bush White House is being offered by an unlikely source. Bob Ney is coming close to claiming that he was a political prisoner. Even more outrageous and alarming is his claim that the administration has been provoking Iran and going out of its way to avoid peace. See this article from TPM.
Thanks to the 22nd amendment we can have some hope that this sort of "bloodsport" politics will soon be over. But will McCain continue Bush's legacy? I'm not even that concerned about Ney in prison. What we need to know is if McCain is going to continue suppressing intelligence and avoiding diplomacy in an effort to provoke another war.
I think stuff like this could convince scores of conservatives to vote for Obama. Hopefully someone in the media can get McCain's response to the story on record and Obama can get a lot of play out of this.
Casualties, financial costs, etc. Show your local neo-con these statistics when he starts saying it was worth it.
The War that has gone on for around half a decade has cost us much in blood and treasure, and popular opinion around the world. This war isn't just unjustifiable, it's fiscally irresponsible, morally wrong, and continually deepining the financial wounds in the American Economy, with a shower of salt upon them to add to the pain.
John McCain, has built a career on his war "story". He is running this campaign based on his time spent in the military as a POW, using it as the reason, excuse, and rationale for every issue discussed during this election. He says he doesn't like war. Maybe not, but the election campaign he is running certainly counters that claim. This new ad shows a frightening view into the McCain mindset, even more bellicose than Bush.
And we thought he was just kidding, making a tasteless joke, when he sang "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.
(link: http://www.youtube.com/...)
Here is the John McCain's latest attempt to scare the hell out of us...
We REALLY need to bring down the Rethug presidential nominee John McNicotine. The only way to fight back against his attacks on Obama is to attack his qualifications for the presidency. Kerry should have done that against Bush. Well, as long as the Rethugs insist on telling lies about our nominees, we need to spread the truth about theirs.
There's one argument for Barack Obama's readiness to be commander-in-chief that Keith Obermann raised once or twice, but otherwise, I haven't heard a lot of, that I'd like to hear repeated, and OFTEN:
Has anyone else noticed, that the Bush administration is co-opting Barack Obama's foreign policy positions, and that this undercuts the Republicans' argument?
As I watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics these past two weeks, a concern that had long been in the back of my head started to manifest itself in a very bizarre way. Believe it or not, these Olympics have given China - despite all the protests leading up to the opening ceremonies – the opportunity to display to the world the power the country holds. With the host country spending between $45 and $80 billion on the event, what we are seeing is not simply a global contest of athleticism, but rather a presentation of amazing proportions. Through China's financial and cultural support, the mega-event that is this year's Olympics is beginning to make one thing certain: America's hegemonic grip on the world is fading fast.
The foundation of John McCains Presidential bid is his foreign policy experience and judgement. The motive engine of his candidacy is his stated ability to protect America from its enemies, and as he has repeatedly said, first among those who threaten us are the rulers of Iran.
McCain recently claimed that Obamas willingness to engage Iran in dialogue
shows "naivete' and "inexperience and lack of judgement". According to ABC News McCain will make the issue "front-and-center in the upcoming election. In response, Barack Obama expressed an eagerness to engage McCain "anywhere, anyplace" on this central concern of voters. Recent events have shed light on how McCains judgement and his own naivete may be his downfall.edition of Time magazine is reporting from two U.S. officials that Americas diplomats and military liasons have been ordered to cut all relations with Amad Chalabi.
http://www.time.com/...
Iran's OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi has warned oil prices could reach as high as $500 per barrel in a few years' time if the US dollar falls further and political tension worsens.
John McCain has boasted that he knows how to win wars. Since he has chosen to make his military prowess a central part of his campaign, it can be exposed for the empty, dangerous bluster that it is with one simple slogan.
"Imagine Denver under missile attack from nearby Boulder."
That's the first line of a real ad, running on television, being run by a group called "The Israel Project." I personally saw it during the Daily Show - I thought it was parody at first. It's not.
BIDEN: You talk about how much you're worried about being able to pay the bills. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a worry John McCain has to worry about.
It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. A clever line referring to how many homes the McCains own. But what do you think?
SPECTER: Well, I think that when the voter goes into that polling booth, he's going to be a lot more concerned about what Russia's doing in Jordan -- Georgia on their invasion or what's happening with Iran and their developing a nuclear bomb.
The US is now moving a massive armada into the Persian Gulf. Kuwait is enacting its "emergency war plan".
There is talk of posting a blockade on Iran as a stick to motivate them to cease their nuclear program. Iran produces oil, but has no real refining capacity - they import most of their gasoline. A blockade would shut down their economy, and cause serious humanitarian problems. It would be like Gitmo, but we'd be torturing an entire nation.
The ongoing display of new wealth and power consumption by the Chinese during the Beijing Olympics adds a new wrinkle to the discussion on U.S. Middle East policy: Why did we attack Iraq, and what are the reasons behind out current position on Iran, considering other global issues related to oil production and consumption and possible WMD threats? The United State's assistance in the sharp increase Asian oil demands contribute to market instability[3], and is just one of many pieces of information that conflict with two popular views of U.S. Mid East policy: where a conflation of oil is positioned on one side, and a conflation of Israel on the other. Unfortunately, adherence to these exclusive paradigms obfuscates the many instances where these two categories (as crude conflations) thread together, revealing a more complicated picture where neither explanation is truly adequate as a sole explanation. Revealing the complexity of Mid East policy needs to break with these exclusive and restrictive paradigms as both of these viewpoints (among others) can bring information that serves to illustrate the larger, multifaceted picture.
(revised draft version- I'm not sure if this is too long for this site and may need to chop it up and re-post)
This isn't much of a diary, but I'm puzzled as to why the "Warmonger" meme hasn't yet appeared in an attack ad against McCain.
With all the recent handwringing over Obama's falling poll numbers, I still have confidence that we will prevail in November. I have to admit, though, that I am relieved by the "Seven" ad and the ad linking McCain to Abramhof. It demonstrates Obama's willingness to hit back hard with the truth.
In an interview to be published in The New York Times this Sunday, Rep. Dennis Kusinich continues to make the case for impeachment – especially amid the Russia/Georgia crisis – as well as arguing for Democrats to come together to back Obama.
Asked why he continues calling for impeachment, Kucinich responds, "This president is capable of taking us into war, in October, on the eve of an election, to try to change the outcome of the election...
"The events in Georgia are a premonition...of an attack on Iran. When Georgia moved against South Ossetia as the Olympics are starting, the Bush administration begins its own Olympics – the war Olympics."
