Waiting For The Balloon Drop - UPDATES!

Whoa! I thought I was kidding this morning when I chided the TNR folks for predicting that Sinister BushCo had pegged this as Capture Osama Day in order to disrupt the Dem convention. But didn't we have hints? JustOneMinute readers saw this coming! (I am pre-empting the TNR gloating below with my own tacky display of same).

Since my morning mockery we have had the Zarqawi head-fake, and the real deal from Pakistan (but he's only Number 22!)

And we see some tacky, premature gloating at TNR - we want Osama! And the night is young.

Pretty Suspenseful! Tonight will be Must See TV!

And my Secret Source tells me that the NY Times has already prepared for the frightful contingency.

Stay Tuned!

MORE: Actually, the TNR second paragraph was "This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar...", so I can be a bit flexible. But Number 22? No crow for me, thanks, but I may have some Buffalo Wings later. Unless the networks cut away, forget it.

UPDATE: Sound and fury at Memeorandum; Gregory Djerejian admonishes the now-daft Josh Marshall, who is convinced that the capture of Al Qaeda HVTs is a bad thing (I summarize unfairly, perhaps). Well, I stand by my original commentary on the TNR piece, which I updated with eerie prescience on July 20 - this has been an ongoing tussle.

EVEN MORE: While we are at it, let's deplore this shameless manipulation of the diplomatic process, too.

Arab Gov'ts Weigh Sending Troops to Iraq

And:

RIYADH : Saudi Arabia has restored relations with Iraq after a break of more than 13 years and agreed to cooperate on security, said a joint statement released on Thursday after a visit to the kingdom by Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

And more here.

Shameful. Don't they know John is speaking tonight? I bet they do!

MORE: With more detail, the InstaOpinion is that we need bigger fish than this to fry Bush.

Comments

[capt joe]

You are right Tom. An absolute disgrace.

How dare they arrest anyone in AQ or restore diplomacy before Kerry takes his rightful place as king, er president.

[capt joe]

I was amazed to discover that this sort of belief is called the texas sharpshooter fallacy.

http://skepdic.com/texas.html

[J Mann]

You know, if I were a conspiracy theorist, (some kind of GOP Josh Marshall), I'd argue that the TNR story was a KERRY plant - thanks to the article, any captures between publication and the election aren't winning the war on terror, they're "dirty tricks."

[TM]

J Mann - that is part of the Rep response to this - that the Kerry side is trying to diminish and pre-spin any "good" news in the next few months.

Another part of the Rep response is, we've been arresting/killing Al Qaeda for over two years; it would be odd to stop now.

I seriously doubt that the mainstream Dem talking points will include Marshall's latest tirade.

[capt joe]

So why don't the republicans call him on this. Why don't they ask why capturing OBL is a bad thing.