Message To Mother Jones (My Stint As An Obama Apologist)

Via Glenn and The Corner I find myself at Mother Jones a post titled "Obama's Selective Memory on His Anti-War Stance".  The gist - in a fundraising appeal, Mr. Obama excerpted from his 2002 speech opposing the war in Iraq but carefully used ellipsis to drop this bit of the original speech:

I haven't tracked this to an authentic primary source, but here's what Wikisource says is missing:

The first ellipse: "He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy."

The second: "that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength"

The first omission, particularly, is a bit striking. The thrust of his speech is still on point. His foresight was still an exercise in good judgment. Thankfully, he was not parroting stronger anti-Saddam talking points about WMDs as many Democrats did, but still... why the omission?

Although Jonathon Stein, the post author, is quoting an email at that point, he clearly has not tracked down the speech itself - here it is, cleverly concealed at the Obama website, and where do I go at Google to get my ten seconds back?

Having read it, it is a speech any proper Dem ought to love.  And as Mr. Stein notes, the "controversy" about the chemical and biological weapons is a bit thin - it is a matter of record that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and used them against the Iranians and his own people at one time.

So, is Obama endorsing the view that Saddam had such weapons in 2002?  Who knows?  But let's get beyond the ellipsis:

Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the middle east, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

That's not so unreasonable for a Dem candidate.  One might quarrel with the notion that containment was working and that sanctions on Iraq were desirable either from a PR perspective (what about the 5,000 Iraqi babies we were killing each month?) or as a way of weakening Saddam's control of his state.  And I suppose one might argue that Obama should have skipped the ellipsis and faced the (very faint) music regarding his apparent acceptance of a WMD argument - in this day and age, did he really think folks would not track down a speech posted at his own site?

But that said, there is no here here.  Which puts me in Glenn's "small potatoes" camp.

Comments

[TimUSSRR]

Personally, I have long thought that Saddam's fantasy of shooting down one of our patrol planes and his efforts at same warranted us attacking him at his Palace.

Granted we couldn't be sure which one he was at, and even if we could effectively reach him if he was inside the target, but I thought it was worth the effort.

My reasoning was that if he fired a missile at one of our planes checking on the Kurds or some such, then we should pick the most likely Palace that he might be in and level it. And I mean bringing in the B52s.

Either he would stop his attempts to murder our pilots or he would run out of Palaces.

Others said that was overkill, and that innocents would be killed, and besides we could practice against the French/Russian/German missile systems, and drain Saddam's defense budget as he replaced missile batteries and radar control and guidance systems along with attendant personnel and equipment. And so we did.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

"One might quarrel with the notion that containment was working and that sanctions on Iraq were desirable either from a PR perspective (what about the 5,000 Iraqi babies we were killing each month?) or as a way of weakening Saddam's control of his state."

Why, thanks, I believe I will, or rather did: Sanctions did not contain Saddam, they enabled him.

For a more detailed reminder, there's always Sanctions: Exhibit A, although I don't think it's JOM folks who need the reminding.

But back to the future:

Isn't the very fact that Obama's apparent lapse here is small potatoes really more to the point than the specifics of the lapse? Obama himself is ultimately small potatoes, and the thinness of his portfolio will become an increasingly obvious liability as campaign season takes off in earnest. Democrats made the same mistake last time around in touting the similarly fresh faced John Edwards. They end up sidelining potentially great candidates by running them too soon.

[Jeff Dobbs]

That's not so unreasonable for a Dem candidate.

Obama has a pretty consistent history regarding Iraq war opposition.

See Dick Morris' article about what Obama faces with the upcoming war vote showdown...

I don't think I agree that Obama's vote could give the nomination to Edwards, but interesting to noodle on the possibilities...

Obama’s moment of truth

By Dick Morris
May 02, 2007

Soon it will be time for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to face a moment of truth and decide whether he is going to lead the anti-war movement or cave in under administration pressure.
...
If Pelosi and Reid cave in to Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will most likely support their compromise to preserve her hawkish credibility and offset doubts about a woman’s ability to be commander in chief. With Edwards leading the chorus of critics, the question is: Will Obama join the compromise or ally with the left in voting against it? On this question the success or failure of his candidacy may well hinge.

To date, Obama has portrayed himself to the left of Hillary on the war by reminding voters that he opposed it in 2002 when Mrs. Clinton and John Edwards each voted to begin it. That historical differential will suffice until a more current vote takes place. Then Obama will have to decide which he is — a dove or a hawk.
...
If Obama joins Hillary in backing the compromise, he will be inviting Edwards back into the race and what has become a two-way contest will become a three-way affair. With the anti-war platform entirely to himself, Edwards could well upend both Obama and Hillary and win the nomination himself.

[Rick Ballard]

H & R,

Obama will meet with Senator Lamont for a discussion about the value of the nutter fringe in Presidential races and then do the principled thing.

Will he fold like a cheap suitcase or like exquisite origami?

That's the real question. I'm going with 'cheap origami' 'cause I'm a moderate centrist, always willing to compromise.

[BumperStickerist]

Might I point out (again) this factoid:

In order to have UN Inspectors in Iraq in 2002, you needed to have about 75,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait. That's the history.

75,000+ troops in Kuwait costs money.

Lots and lots of money.

For your money you got to have 35 UN Inspectors, thirty-five total, to do onsite inspections.

In Iraq.

With Saddam in power.

And those 75,000 troops aren't necessarily safe, either - IEDs, suicide bombers, any number of casualties would likely have happened.

So, today, four years after you put troops overseas and UN Inspectors in Iraq what would you get for your billions and billions of dollars and US military casualties by going with UN Inspections?

Or would it have been better to have no inspections at all?

[clarice]

I prefer someone who doesn't want to wait until the threat is imminent--esp knowing that we can't count on our intl services for bupkis.

This may be small potatoes--lots of Obama's failings to date are, but enough small potatoes and you have a nice fat latke.(with applesauce if you're from west of the Oderl with sour cream if you're from east of it.)

[clarice]

**Oder;*****

[Pofarmer]

that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength

So, does this make Saddam more or less likely to resort to terrorism? Supporting AQ? Supporting other terrorist networks?

Is Saddam more or less likely to do something desperate and stupid to stay in power if his actual power is diminishing?

The whole "Saddam is like your grandpa" crowd, just drives me nuts.

[Pofarmer]

dangit

[Barry Dauphin]

Isn't this just further evidence that the campaign is starting way too early? Do we really need to be parsing these statements now? Surely there's plenty of time for Obama to say something ridiculous. Isn't the early campaign simply a way to give overpaid network newsreaders something to do for the next several months? Workfare for the blow-dry crowd.

[reliapundit - the astute blogger]

for leftists it's ALWAYS about what's between the ellipsis/what's left out/what's beneath "reality"/what only they can "SEE" - IOW: "THE OCCULT":

JFK was not killed by a lone gunman;

all history is a "class struggle";

global warming has nothing to do with the SUN (which we can see, but with CO2, which we can't see;

the Iraq war wasn't waged against a rogue state led by the genocidal Saddam; it was for OIL;

across the board tax cuts were really meant to only help the rich; the high stick market and low unemployment #'s, and low fed deficit (as a % of GDP) don't really REVEAL the terrible "Bush economy";

the WTC was an inside job.

I think people who FEEL that simple explanations are for dumb people are drawn to postmodern leftism precisely because it gives them grand and elaborate conspiratorial explanations.

there is no issue that is "black and white" for them, just nuances of gray. there is no "good or evil" - these are outmoded terms for simpletons - and Republicans like Dubya.

SO OF COURSE these people are ALWAYS going to seek some "higher" truth, some deeper and more significant "revelation" from reading between the lines and at what's been replaced by ellipsis.

Conservatives tend to take things at face value: when jihdists say they want to reestablish the Caliphate and that they will do whatever it takes to accomplish this, w conservatives believe them; we see 9/11, 7/7, 3/22 and we know they mean what they say.

They say they have made Iraq the central front of global jihad, and we believe them.
And we say, it's as good a place to defeat them as anywhere else: MAYBE BETTER!

Chomsky and Zinn and other postmodern leftists are merely the top of a pyramid of leftists who seek to explain everything by using special knowledge of occult happenings.

Those who seek to find the "real" Obama by analyzing what he DIDN'T put in a reprint are merely following tradition.

[hoosierhoops]

With Saddam in power.

And those 75,000 troops aren't necessarily safe, either - IEDs, suicide bombers, any number of casualties would likely have happened.

So, today, four years after you put troops overseas and UN Inspectors in Iraq what would you get for your billions and billions of dollars and US military casualties by going with UN Inspections?

Or would it have been better to have no inspections at all?

Posted by: BumperStickerist | May 02, 2007 at 04:34 PM

Looking back Bumpersticker..Perhaps the Bush doctrine should have been supporting a military coup in Iraq.. I know the logistics may have been complex but considering current standing in the middle east, I think we should consider those options in future engagements...

[Other Tom]

The whole thing sounds to me like a speech that Democrat primary voters will dearly love. I would guess that Obama would be more than happy, at this point, to play it exactly as it lays.

[Maybeex]

hoosierhoops: Looking back Bumpersticker..Perhaps the Bush doctrine should have been supporting a military coup in Iraq

I'm not sure they didn't at least try.
Robert Baer told Hugh Hewitt that he (and of course, his CIA bretheren) organized a coup in Iraq in the mid-90's, but at the last minute Clinton called it off.

[abwtf]

Obama has a good point. Some people wanted to attack Russia at the end of WWII but we held back and the Evil Empire eventually fell into the dustbin of history and we didn't have to go to war against them.

The same policy is surely working against Castro and Kim Jong Il and the Iranian mullahs, to name a few. So why not let Saddam remain in power?

How I long for those peaceful stress-free days of the Cold War. It was so cheap and easy and successful it should be the basis of all our foreign policy.

[Rick Ballard]

abwtf,

This package is not available with all options. You can have clean and articulate but you'll have to find smart somewhere else.

Oh, I forgot - he does include the 'dresses well' option.

[Other Tom]

The people who had to live in Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989 might take a different view from that of abwtf. And there are a hell of a lot of Cubans who would probably not agree that the policy (whatever it is) is "working." Ditto the poor North Koreans.

I'm not advocating war with any of them, mind you, but I think the threat--or, more accurately, the reasonably perceived threat--from Saddam was infinitely greater than anything posed by Cuba. And the risk of taking him out was far less than what would be faced had we tried it with the Soviet Union, or if we were to try it now in Korea.

[Maybeex]

abwtf-
You know, you are on to something.
I know people that are bright and well-meaning that point to our current relationship with Germany, Japan, and even Vietnam as proof that war is never necessary. Eventually, trouble got worked out and everyone gets along. All that was needed was time.

[Rick Ballard]

OT,

I think his ironometer is set on 'very subtle'.

Maybe.

[Other Tom]

Rick, I think you're onto something. And I suppose Mayeex's is on as well. That second Martini makes me impervious to irony every time.

[Other Tom]

There's something called Boingboing.com that is running a campaign to ferret out the truth about the 4/29 collapse of the Bay Bridge on-ramp. They point out that the "official" line is that the fire from the gasoline actually melted the steel in the structure, which we all know can't happen.

I think I should point out that, according to what I have heard, none of the Jews used that on-ramp that morning. Coincidence?

[Other Tom]

Actually, it's 429truth.com. Boingboing.net is simply reporting about the truthers.

[topsecretk9]

--I think I should point out that, according to what I have heard, none of the Jews used that on-ramp that morning. Coincidence?--

HEH.

[hoosierhoops]

hoosierhoops: Looking back Bumpersticker..Perhaps the Bush doctrine should have been supporting a military coup in Iraq

I'm not sure they didn't at least try.
Robert Baer told Hugh Hewitt that he (and of course, his CIA bretheren) organized a coup in Iraq in the mid-90's, but at the last minute Clinton called it off.

Posted by: Maybeex | May 02, 2007 at
Oh It's so much worse than that maybeex..
Bush #1 created this whole mess in the first place..If when we enjoyed the support of the entire Arab middle East inc. syrian et.al..We walk out with nothing and i mean nothing resolved. Do you think FDR would just walk away? How about JFK..no plan?
No Leadership? Just walk away and leave the whole Da*M mess to the Next Prez..thanks alot mr. bush #1. You left us with no outs in the 9th, bases loaded and Jeter up to bat..Sorry we didn't get that cleaned up for you...
Now..mr bush #2..It's almost surreal isn't it? Well don't get me started..halftime is over and it's the playoff!!

[abwtf]

I thought "stress-free Cold War" was the tip-off.

I support removing Saddam but I respect some of the arguments against it.

But to call Saddam a "petty dictator" is to undersell by a factor or two.

To suggest removing Saddam was done "without a clear rationale" is to ignore over a decade of history and US policy.

To claim that leaving Saddam in power instead of punishing him for his transgressions by replacing him with a democratic government "will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world" is to play us for fools.

[Pofarmer]

Bush #1 created this whole mess in the first place..If when we enjoyed the support of the entire Arab middle East inc. syrian et.al..We walk out with nothing and i mean nothing resolved.

Please note what Bush Sr. had to work with. He knew he didn't have the luxury of having this settled becuase of Politics at home. I beleive Colin Powell also advised against the march to Baghdad. "Highway of Death" and all that. I'll bet he fit right in at State.

[Rick Ballard]

abwtf,

Nice piece. Obama is apparently good at speaking. The evidence on thinking remains... well, unclear is the kindest way to put it.

[cathyf]

In order to have UN Inspectors in Iraq in 2002, you needed to have about 75,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait. That's the history.

75,000+ troops in Kuwait costs money.

Lots and lots of money.

Not to mention it required troops and air bases in Saudi Arabia.

Which cost not only lots of money, but the lives of 3000 civilians, 4 airplanes, two of the world's tallest buildings, 5000 points of the DOW, etc...

[topsecretk9]

A substance and concern lefty/righty compare and contrast:

JOM:

In order to have UN Inspectors in Iraq in 2002, you needed to have about 75,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait. That's the history. 75,000+ troops in Kuwait costs money.

Lots and lots of money.

Not to mention it required troops and air bases in Saudi Arabia.
Which cost not only lots of money, but the lives of 3000 civilians, 4 airplanes, two of the world's tallest buildings, 5000 points of the DOW, etc...

Firedoglake:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/05/02/sex-and-politics/

One of the more interesting statistics in the 2008 presidential campaign comes from the marital statuses of the candidates...

of which you read the "analysis" you find? None and nothing, but the whole exercise of nothing is for this

RE: possible "Democrat" busts (besides FAUX Dem Toesucker Dick Morris) — I'm not overly worried. Here's why:

The human prozac.

2) The K Street Project did far too good a job of removing Democratic lobbyists from the feeding trough. Any Dem lobbyists will be former ones from the Clinton era who have long since left DC. (See above.)

uh huh. but this nugget of infinite wisdom gleams as if beaming from a holy grail....

5) Palfrey's company specialized in kinky sex games. Democrats tend to prefer straight sex (or rather, safe, sane and consensual sex — thanks, Peterr!) and are more concerned with it being safe sex, as even a guest on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show stated last year (though she tries to put a negative spin on this caringness).

Cigars anyone? but now I FINALLY, FINALLY believe Democrats when they defend Clinton...all he lied about was SEX, well because let's face it...it's all he CARED ABOUT!

He was a rock star baby, not a terror bedwetter!

[BumperStickerist]

Democrats tend to prefer straight sex (or rather, safe, sane and consensual sex

Ummmm............. I guess Ted Kennedy/ Chris Dodd/ Barney Frank / the Kennedy Extended Family / Bill Clinton / Jim McGreevey are the exceptions that prove that rule.

And if non-elected Democrats, the hoi polloi, are all about teh safe sex, then why all the abortions in Blue States?

Is it that Democrats prefer things they can't actually do?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Barry Dauphin:
Isn't the early campaign simply a way to give overpaid network newsreaders something to do for the next several months?

And overpaid campaign consultants...who thought of the idea of the early perpetual campaign in the first place

[Jeff Dobbs]

Other Tom:
Actually, it's 429truth.com. Boingboing.net is simply reporting about the truthers.

Well - I maintain that Bush took out the bridge to punish SF for banning plastic trashbags:

"You wanna try and save the environment? Fine, use one square. Plant a tree. Hold a concert a rally a screening of Gore's movie. But banning plastic trash bags affects the oil industry. You ban the bags to save the environment, and I'll choke up traffic so bad it'll make your head spin. Now tell me how much carbon your city is responsible for."

[Jeff Dobbs]

Well, the ellipses may be small potatoes, but with the nutroots, this looks like it might be a bit larger...

Online anger at Obama

Wow, are the well-known bloggers mad at the Obama campaign for -- as they see it -- taking advantage of, and then dumping, the guy who created his MySpace page, Joe Anthony.

Markos says that, er, defecating "on your biggest supporters is generaly not a wise thing to do."

The MyDD crowd grumbles.

Atrios also not happy.

And Technorati has an endless list of smaller bloggers who are clearly upset. This does seem to have struck a chord with Internet denizens -- not, I suspect, with ordinary MySpace users; but with the smaller world of online activists who have been doing a lot of unpaid work for candidates, and particularly for Obama.

[Jeff Dobbs]

What's up with the new rules about active duty military personnel blogging and sending emails?

Here's Hugh's take, which points to a couple of articles, like this one:

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Reading the Media Blog on NRO just now, I read a part of a Q&A session with President Bush yesterday:

I talk to a lot of families who have got a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan, or anywhere else in this global war on terror, and they are in constant communication with their loved one. That's amazing, isn't it. You've got a kid in Iraq who is emailing mom daily, talking about the realities of what he or she sees. Information is moving — you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets. It's amazing how many emails I see from people that are writing in what they think and what they hear.

Is the Commander in Chief aware of the new rules? Does he approve of them?

[Jane]

The Commander in Chief does not appear to be commanding much these days.

[Cecil Turner]

They point out that the "official" line is that the fire from the gasoline actually melted the steel in the structure, which we all know can't happen.

Wanna know what really happened? Check this out (and the source). Truck, bridge, failure . . . and where was Ah-nuld when all this happened?

Standing near the wreckage Sunday night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed that the state would respond quickly to the damage.

Yeah, that response was mighty quick all right. Coincidence? I think not!

[Jeff Dobbs]

Matt at Blackfive.net says:

Next, be sure to read Major Elizabeth Robbins award winning paper about military blogs "Muddy Boots" - which General Petraeus praised. It is pure genius and I'm glad Noah linked to it. I believe that Major Robbins is or is on the way to somewhere dangerous.

Does General Petraeus know and approve of the new rules?

[Sue]

How about JFK.

How about him? Maybe you should look into JFK, the CIA and Cuba. If you really believe your argument, that is.

[Sue]

I know the logistics may have been complex but considering current standing in the middle east, I think we should consider those options in future engagements...

That is good to know you support that. What percentage of your political party also supports that? The rumors coming out of Iran suggest we are in the process of doing just that and you can read the headlines as well as I can. I don't think the percentage supporting your POV, in your political party, is that large.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Sue, whaddya think the Mavs are gonna do tonight?

[Sue]

Not to mention it required troops and air bases in Saudi Arabia.

Which cost not only lots of money, but the lives of 3000 civilians, 4 airplanes, two of the world's tallest buildings, 5000 points of the DOW, etc...

If I was more motivated, I would google the number of times that someone on the left used the words Saudi Arabia, Osama pissed and air bases. Alas, I am not motivated.

History must be re-written to prove Bush lied, kids died.

[Sue]

Sue, whaddya think the Mavs are gonna do tonight?

Kick ass or go home. ::grin::

I have absolutely no idea which Mavs team will show up tonight. Hopefully, the one I cheered through 67 regular season wins and not the one who is down to the #8 seed.

::GRRRRRRRR::

[Other Tom]

Mavs are going down tonight, big-time. Two of the very sweetest sights in all the wide world of sports are watching George Steinbrenner and Mark Cuban gracelessly tasting defeat.

[Sue]

I wish I could disagree with you, about Cuban, but I can't. But the Mavs may not go down...but don't bet any money on it. ::grin::

[Jeff Dobbs]

How many people, afflicted with BDS, are hoping for the US to retreat from and lose in Iraq, as punishment for Bush (and Cheney, neocons, Halliburton etc)? People, who in other circumstances, would support the war in Iraq...people who, if Clinton were president, would accept the rationale for going to war and support the efforts to win the war...

Don't let Cuban Derangement Syndrome blind you to the rightness of the cause, fighting against the forces of true evil.

If the Warriors beat the Mavs tonight, the plastic trash bag banners will have won.

And next they're coming for your toilet paper.

[Other Tom]

Latest Quinippiac poll:

Head-to-Head Match Ups
Giuliani 49 - Clinton 40
Giuliani 44 - Obama 41
Giuliani 48 - Gore 41

McCain 46 - Clinton 41
McCain 42 - Obama 42
McCain 47 - Gore 41

F. Thompson 39 - Clinton 46
F. Thompson 34 - Obama 47
F. Thompson 37 - Gore 47

Favorable/Unfavorable Ratings
Giuliani 53/24 (+29)
Obama 46/18 (+28)
McCain 49/26 (+23)
Edwards 46/25 (+21)
F. Thompson 26/9 (+17)
Gore 49/41 (+8)
Romney 17/16 (+1)
Clinton 44/46 (-2)

Mark Cuban 02/98 (-96)

[Sue]

Mark Cuban 02/98 (-96)

LOL.

[RogerA]

These contests of purity among the moonbats are absolutely fascinating to watch: I really want the democratic campaign to get in high so I can pop some popcorn and sit back and watch.

[Jeff Dobbs]

The Smoothening of the Culture......

Sharpton to hit street to clean up rap
...
Sharpton added that he had become more motivated to have such language banned because James Brown, whom he once managed, on his deathbed had urged the activist to "be more aggressive in cleaning up the music."

James Brown? I say that it was Obama who convinced him he had "...become a little complicit in this kind of relaxed attitude toward some pretty offensive things," And that Obama's stern rebuke "prompt[ed] some self-reflection on the part of..." Sharpton.

And hey, if James Brown (Obama, I say it was Obama!) wants it, it's all good. But if the "right wing" wants it...

Sharpton and Simmons' recent stance contrasts sharply with their positions in the 1990s, when they were outspoken advocates of free expression in rap lyrics.

Sharpton told reporters in 1995 that record label executives should not "cave in" to calls from the right wing to censor lyrics because doing so would "infringe on our 1st amendment rights."

[Other Tom]

"Sharpton added that he had become more motivated to have such language banned because James Brown, whom he once managed, on his deathbed had urged the activist to 'be more aggressive in cleaning up the music.'"

This has all the earmarks of another Rev. Al whopper. I can't find any reference to his having been anywhere near Brown on his deathbed. He was in Atlanta for a Friday dental appointment, was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure over the weekend, and died on Monday.

I would welcome any corrections. Anyone aware of any contemporaneous accounts of a Sharpton deathbed appearance?

[clarice]

Well, Other Tom in that he's good company with Rev Jackson whose account of his last moments with MLK is also a transparent lie.

[Rick Ballard]

Well, he was obviously there in spirit and communed with Brown in the same manner that Woodward did with Bill Casey as he was shucking off the mortal coil.

Alternatively, Sharpton being the racist huckster that he is, he's just exercising his well earned PhD in MSU as part of his scam du jour.

Hard to say - we just need to remember that prositutes, political, racial or the originals do have to keep hustling. Al's asking price has dropped from the $100 dollar range down to the $5 area so he has to hustle ever harder to keep that gut filled. It's tough being an old whore.

[Other Tom]

At least the Rev. Al has a seemingly endless supply of Dixie Peach hair pomade.

To Jesse's bloody shirt and Woodward's "I believe" (uttered by a comatose man who had lost the power of speech), we have to add Mrs. Clinton's being named for Edmund Hillary, who at the time of her birth was an obscure New Zealand beekeeper.

It seems clear that these people really do believe we're all extremely stupid.

[Other Tom]

More Al Gore corruption:

"Apple Inc.'s board of directors, a star-studded group that features the likes of former Vice President Al Gore and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is coming under fire for its handling of backdated stock options at the famed computer-maker, including those handed out to its chief executive, Steve Jobs.

"Apple's former Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson caused an uproar last week when he released a statement saying he had cautioned Jobs in 2001 about the accounting implications related to a particular options grant. In the same breath, Anderson questioned the conduct of Apple's board of directors regarding options backdating.

"And Anderson is not alone in his criticism of the Apple board. Institutional Shareholder Services -- a respected firm that advises shareholders on how they should vote on proxy issues -- counseled investors last week to withhold their support for all Apple board members except Jobs at the company's shareholder meeting next week because of the 'secretiveness' and 'lack of candor' that have shrouded the backdating imbroglio. Meanwhile, the company is fighting off a shareholder lawsuit that alleges the board knew about the backdating scheme.

"It all adds up to a growing chorus objecting to the close relationship between the Apple board and its high-profile CEO. Those critics also are questioning the impartiality of an Apple backdating investigation run by a board member who approved some of the options grants in question.

"Because of the way Apple elects directors, withholding votes will have little real impact. But the growing controversy could shake up the high-profile board, which in turn could change how Jobs runs Apple for the first time in a decade.

"'The Apple board's handling of the entire options imbroglio does not inspire investor confidence,' Institutional Shareholder Services concluded in a sharply worded report to investors. 'CEO Steve Jobs has been instrumental in creating significant shareholder value; however, a cult-like devotion to any CEO can be a huge downside risk to shareholders. The entire board, including Steve Jobs, needs to ensure that even superstar CEOs do not rule the empire.'

"Apple directors could not be reached for comment. In response to Anderson's statement last week, they released one of their own: 'The SEC ... complaint speaks for itself, in terms of what it says, what it does not say, who it charges, and who it does not charge.'

"Stock options -- granting the right to buy stock at a later date at today's price -- were supposed to be the ideal way to reward corporate executives for performance: Executives gain only when the stock goes up. But amid the hiring frenzy of the 1990s technology boom, Silicon Valley companies began engaging in a practice called backdating, pretending that the options were granted earlier at more favorable prices to boost their potential value.

"The practice mushroomed into a massive corporate fraud scandal that in the past year has claimed the careers of senior executives and, in some cases, has led to civil and criminal charges. Apple is the most high-profile company to be swept up in the scandal. The Cupertino maker of iPods and Macintosh computers now admits that more than 6,400 grants might have been improperly backdated from 1997 to 2002, including two large grants to Jobs in 2000 and 2001.

"Yet, at no time during Apple's internal probe or a Justice Department investigation have the board's actions been held up to public scrutiny. It is that lack of transparency that irks critics, but typically these critics have little recourse. Directors, who are not officers of companies, are routinely named in civil litigation but rarely face fraud charges."

Naming that bloated toad Gore in a civil fraud suit, and getting his videotaped deposition, would be enough to lure me out of retirement. Almost.

[Jeff Dobbs]

The Obama campaign: home of the Whopper

Obama in Iowa at a campaign rally:

"Nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people."

Obama at the recent debates:

"actually, if you have the whole thing, said - what I said is - nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people from the failure of the Palestinian leadership to recognize Israel, to renounce violence and to get serious about negotiating peace and security for the region."

The Des Moines Register:

Obama did not initially blame Palestinian leaders for the suffering of Palestinians. That came later, after the flak.

Actually, sounds to me like Obama is just practicing an art from perfected by one very famous Palestinian leader...

[clarice]

h & r --the only thing standing between you and the WH is a good life narrative..Get crackin' on it!

[Specter]

I got news for the conspiracy theorists: A bridge in I-95 in CT partially collapsed last year after a tanker explosion on the bridge. The heat from the burning gasoline caused structural failure of the steel beams.

[clarice]

OT:

In asserting that the Bank's demand that Ms Riza be seconded from the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz noted the inconsistency in the application of the Bank's conflict-of-interest position, that it had not minded that the wife of former Bank Managing Director Zheng was not forced from her position.

Zheng has filed a facially preposterous response

[quote]The Bank's rules, according to Zhang - and presumably he should be in a position to know as the Bank's number two manager - permitted

"husbands and wives to work at the bank under circumscribed conditions, which he said he followed, but that they barred anyone from having a sexual relationship with a top bank official outside of marriage." (emphasis added)[/quote]

Kenneth Anderson says if such a rule actually exists it would certainly discriminate against gays and wonders where are the normal defenders of gay rights on this.

In actuality he cannot find such a rule despite seeking it from the Bank and concludes:

[quote]Is this really the Bank's rule? Could it really, truly be that the World Bank would have a rule so nakedly anti-gay? I asked informally - I didn't talk with the Bank's lawyers, as it seemed unlikely anyone would dare respond - and no one seems to know. Zhang calls it an "express prohibition." But where is it written down?

It seems quite possible it is written down somewhere. It seems quite possible it is not written down anywhere - and that the Bank, if pressed on this issue by some NGO group, would deny having any such rule. It also seems quite possible that the Bank has indirectly addressed some such question in some obscure memo from the ethics committee, or some internal employment review panel, or some internal thing - which maybe counts as "express" or maybe just counts as something that no one quite knows about but which can be triumphantly pulled out of a file as needed - or, on the other hand, quietly forgotten if not.

One of the insistent lessons of the Wolfowitz affair with respect to Bank governance is that the Bank manages that great bureaucratic feat, so reminiscent of the "soft" Communist regimes of Yugoslavia, Hungary and today, China (and Zhang's language sounds less like a banker than that of a Chinese Communist Party functionary, does it not?), the twin, simultaneous qualities of infinite discretion combined with infinite rules. A bureaucracy that has a rule for every occasion - and the discretion to ignore them whenever and however it feels like. No wonder the institution is so resistant to Wolfowitz's rule of law agenda.[/quote]

http://kennethandersonlawofwar.blogspot.com/2007/05/anti-gay-couple-rules-at-world-bank.html>Frauds

[Other Tom]

And guess what: all the Jews avoided that bridge that day. Coincidence?

[Rick Ballard]

"The heat from the burning gasoline caused structural failure of the steel beams."

So you're saying that they used Zionist Meltable FauxSteel™ in CT as well as in CA? Does Rosie know about this?

The breadth of this conspiracy is truly astonishing.

[Appalled Moderate]

I'm not sure how Wolfowitz expects to continue at the bank, with his staff in rebellion against him. But I'm wondering how much credibility the personnel policies at the bank are going to have once all this is done.

Hope thaey are working on a really, really big severance package for Wolfowitz. Maybe the Euro donors will kick in with a little extra.

[clarice]

Well, I hope he doesn't resign because I doubt the Board will have the balls to remove him.
Then I hope the inquiry into who leaked private personnel information proceeds and the Ethics Committee and HR office are forced out of their infinite rules and infinite discretion mode of operation.
Finally, I hope that the drop in contributions to the Bank, results in substantial cutbacks in personnel and compensation which would serve Cave and the WB union right and do the world a favor.

(The leakers say the claim that Riza would have sued if the settlement was insufficient is fake because no one has jurisdiction to hear such a claim--they'll get a chance to test their theory when it applies to them.)

[Rick Ballard]

"is fake because no one has jurisdiction to hear such a claim"

How cool - total unaccountability. They've achieved the perfect solution to the quis custodiet custodiens dilemma. The SoroNGO mafia will want to study this carefully.

[clarice]

It is true for some things, Rick. WB staff get generous pensions and lifetime health care , but if they divorce no court has jurisdiction to give the wife any portion of those benefits.

These little princes can and often do divorce their spouses, causing them to have to leave the country where they've lived for years and return home w/o any pension and they may not qualify for any assistance in their home country. Efforts to get the Bank to ameliorate this have been unavailing unless something has happened in the last few years that I am unaware of.
OTOH, I expect the WB is accountable in local courts for contracts it enters into, including one would suppose employment contracts.

[Jeff Dobbs]

In another sign of pressure on Mr. Wolfowitz, European officials said ministries in Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries had warned that their parliaments were so unhappy with the bank that they might withhold future funds if he remained in office.

Would that Bush would call their bluff.
If Wolfowitz goes, the US withholds future funds.

Of course, if Bush were to make such a remark, headlines would read, "Bush to Let Poor Starve, Suffer, Die"

[cathyf]

Don't underestimate the racism and sexism implicit in the charges, either. Riza is apparently a very smart, very articulate, muslim woman who has had a long successful career at the WB before Wolfowitz showed up there. There is a rather large ugly group out there who think that it is their business when a muslim woman and infidel man are romantically involved.

[clarice]

An International Game of Liar's Poker..

[Jeff Dobbs]

Cathy what your saying is probably why CAIR isn't involved?

American-Islamic Relations does not translate to American-Muslim relationship...

[glasater]

OT-Am sure the JOM folks have seen this one but it's just too great to pass up!

Wolfowitz 'Memorandum' Surfaces

They’re having some fun over at Foreign Policy magazine this week.

FP publishes a “memo” from Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank staff (under the byline of Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard and a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution).
[Wolfowitz]
Wolfowitz

The “Web exclusive” begins with a reminder of Wolfowitz’s previous job. “My past life as Deputy Secretary of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld has taught me the importance of carrying out a plan with unwavering certainty … In that regard, I am writing to you with a stern warning. It has come to my attention that many of you are turning your Internet browsers to TradeSports.com, where there is an active market in ‘Paul Wolfowitz resignation’ contracts for 2007.” The Irish betting site gives him a 62% probability of resigning by the end of June.
[Gonzales]
Gonzales

Addressing a question of whether buying such contracts while selling short “Alberto Gonzalez resignation” contracts constitutes insider trading, the memo says: “My emphatic answer is no! Long Wolfowitz, short Gonzales is only a “relative value play” that hedges out the value of loyalty to President Bush. You would still be guilty of insider trading on your Bank-specific knowledge. (And who says I don’t know enough about finance for this job!)”

[Jane]

Hugo Chavez just announced he's about to nationalize the banks.

[Lew Clark]

What's the over/under on Hugo Chavez assassination in the next 12 months? Venezuelans are not Euroweenies. The peasants do have guns.

[Sue]

Lew,

Unless something has changed recently, the peasants love him.

[clarice]

They had a perfectly good chance to assassinate him years ago or to force him into exile. They were too soft and this is what they got--the bleeding of billions of dollars worth of resources and the impoverishment of a once thriving country.
Remember that when people start pissing and moaning about torture, et al.

glaster, apparently Andrew Sullivan who gets crazier by the day thought that memo was real--oh, and he somehow seems to have overlooked the anti-gay implications of the newly announced Zheng rule.

[clarice]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/dc_law_firm_sus.html

Heh Akin Gump Secy worked for DC Madam

[Rick Ballard]

Not just works. It sounds like she was shooting for a merger:

According to the e-mails provided to ABC News by Palfrey, the Akin Gump woman was interested in helping to restart the escort service after Palfrey had closed it, suggesting it could be done from the Akin Gump offices.

I wonder if it got to a partnership vote. I can think of some great marketing ideas and slogans. "Akin Gump - more than just a full service legal firm" would be about the mildest.

[glasater]

I went to the FT site before posting here. It is longer there and very well marked as a joke but it was just too clever not to pass along on JOM.

[clarice]

Rick, Why was she singled out for prostitution in a firm where Vernon is the big rainmaker?

[Specter]

Hey,

Imus lawyer announces that Imus will sue CBS for $40M!

Read it here

[clarice]

Isn't that sweet, Specter..And now I hope the Duke Lacrosse team sues Duke and the 88 professors along with Nifong. One way or the other we will teach constitutional law to the left.

[Rocco]

Abdurahman Alamoudi in the news again.

Not to be confused with Mohammed Hussein Alamoudi, brother, whom the State Dept honored in 1997. Also honoring Alamoudi... "Key staff members of the US House of Representatives were on hand." (Jefferson's been Louisiana's congressman since 91) Wilson was in attendance too representing President Clinton as National Security Advisor for Africa. From SBD at Winds of Change...

Africa News October 24, 1997 SECTION: NEWS, DOCUMENTS & COMMENTARY LENGTH: 432 words HEADLINE: Ethiopia; World Bank, US Gov't Honours Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al--Amoudi BYLINE: Addis Tribune (Addis Ababa)

Addis Ababa -- Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al--Amoudi, Founder and Chairman of the MIDROC Ethiopia Group, was honoured at a luncheon at the World Bank on 1 October, according to a press release from the Washington--based
Westar Group, Inc. It was sponsored jointly between the US State Department and the World Bank Group. Mr. Isaac K. Sam, a senior World Bank official heading Private Sector Finance operations, co--hosted the event. In welcoming Mr. Al--Amoudi, he said, "This is the first time ever that the World Bank has hosted a luncheon for a private sector investor."

Ms. Regina C. Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and co--host of the luncheon on behalf of the US State Department, invited US government officials to speak about the priorities and aspirations of their agencies.
The speakers expressed admiration for Sheikh Mohammed's private sector initiatives, saying, "He represents the best of
the private sector entrepreneurs and he is proof that much is happening in African development."

In response, Sheikh Mohammed said that, "Africa is coming into its own and will play an important role in the world economic community in the 21st century," and urged other private companies to follow him with large investments in
Africa.

Sheikh Mohammed observed that training is Africa's single most critical need and it is the area where major international donors should concentrate their efforts and their generosity. He stressed that "if Africa is to develop in the next century, people must acquire the skills and governments must create the environment to make it happen." He concluded by saying, "Investment in people is of the utmost importance, because, in the final analysis, people matter."

Guests included the Ambassadors from Ethiopia and Morocco, key officials from the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, The International Finance Corporation, the African Development Foundation, the African Development Bank, the Export--Import Bank of the US, the Overseas Private Insurance Corporation and the US Trade and Development Agency.

Representatives of the Clinton Administration, were also present, including Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who is National Security Advisor for Africa and Mr. Bernard Gaillard from the US Department of transportation, who will visit several African countries in coming months, including Ethiopia. Key staff members of the US House of Representatives were on hand, as were members of the business community and private NGOs having an interest in Ethiopia specifically and Africa broadly.

97 was also the year Mima Nedelcovych and F.C. Schaffer and Associates started AfricaGlobal.

[PatrickR]

Not to be out-anecdoted, Hillary reveals how she learned about cattle futures:

'In her speech, Clinton talked about her childhood in Park Ridge, using it to focus on issues such as immigration reform -- a concern paramount to the huge Hispanic community in California.

'She recalled Park Ridge was surrounded by farms that relied on migrant labor and that she used to baby-sit the workers' children, an experience that awakened her to the complexities of the immigrant experience.'

Park Ridge, who knew it was the nation's breadbasket?

[Poppy]

"""But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States"""

Of course Obama did want to invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and kill all the Al Queda on Sept 10th 2001 because they DID POSE AN IMMINENT THREAT.??????

Nooooo, he would have said the same thing about them.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Why are you making it hard on me to refrain from making a joke that brings together Palfrey, Precious and Imus?

[clarice]

ho ho ho

[Maybeex]

Imus lawyer announces that Imus will sue CBS for $40M!

I thought of Sara when I read that.
As much as I think CBS would usually have the right to fire him, it sounds like his contract was breached.

[Poppy]

This must be another Obama:

""In today’s globalized world, the security of the American people is inextricably linked to the security of all people. When narco-trafficking and corruption threaten democracy in Latin America, it’s America’s problem too. When poor villagers in Indonesia have no choice but to send chickens to market infected with avian flu, it cannot be seen as a distant concern. When religious schools in Pakistan teach hatred to young children, our children are threatened as well.

Whether it’s global terrorism or pandemic disease, dramatic climate change or the proliferation of weapons of mass annihilation, the threats we face at the dawn of the 21st century can no longer be contained by borders and boundaries.
"""

Hmm, so kids taught in Pakistan to hate America are a threat, but the kids taught the same by Saddam are what???

[Poppy]

Imus was heard to say:

'Let's go to Hymietown and get me one of those diamond merchant whore lawyers.'

In 1989, after the Central Park Jogger was viciously attacked and left for dead, Sharpton called the jogger a "whore" and accused her boyfriend of committing the crime. No apology.

MSNBC/NBC/CBS are silent on Shaptons whore comment...There was more, of course-always more. In the spring of 1989, the Central Park “wilding” occurred. That was the monstrous rape and beating of a young white woman, known to most of the world as “the jogger.” The hatred heaped on her by Sharpton and his claque is almost impossible to fathom, and wrenching to review. Sharpton insisted-against all evidence-that the attackers were innocent. They were, he said, modern Scottsboro Boys, trapped in “a fit of racial hysteria.” Unspeakably, he and his people charged that the victim’s own boyfriend had raped and beaten her to the point of death. Outside the courthouse, they chanted, “The boyfriend did it! The boyfriend did it!” They denounced the victim as “Whore!” They screamed her name, over and over (because most publications refused to print it, though several black-owned ones did). Sharpton brought Tawana Brawley to the trial one day, to show her, he said, the difference between white justice and black justice. He arranged for her to meet the jogger’s attackers, whom she greeted with comradely warmth. In another of his publicity stunts, he appealed for a psychiatrist to examine the victim. “It doesn’t even have to be a black psychiatrist,” he said, generously. He added: “We’re not endorsing the damage to the girl — if there was this damage.”

This is the mentality that Hilliary Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest have embraced.

[clarice]

Poppy--that Obama business is what I call the Dem's "Over there" argument--there's always a danger wherever we are not involved. If we are involved, we shouldn't be there because that's not where the there is--it's over *pointing finger elsewhere*there-------->

[Other Tom]

Anybody else getting the suspicion that, if they had it all to do over again, those scumbags at the World Bank would let sleeping dogs lie? I think they never in a million years thought Wolfowitz would fight back, and now that he's doing so all kinds of people are learning all kinds of highly unsavory things about that cesspool. A little bit more of this and that sorry instituion could be looking at a serious crisis--all of their own richly-deseerved making. Free Wolfie! Speak Truth to Power!

[Other Tom]

"Hmm, so kids taught in Pakistan to hate America are a threat, but the kids taught the same by Saddam are what???"

How about kids at UC Berkeley? Or how about kids at Virginia Tech, who are taught by that illustrious poet in their vermin-infested English department?

[Other Tom]

Oh, how fervently I pary that this slut gets some serious hard time:

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - Paris Hilton should be jailed for 45 days for violating terms of her probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving conviction, city prosecutors say.

"In documents filed April 30th in Superior Court, prosecutors said they also want Hilton to be required to stay away from alcohol for 90 days and wear a monitoring device that will chart whether she complies.

"The recommendation will be reviewed by a judge when Hilton appears for a probation violation hearing on Friday."

[Other Tom]

"Pray." Jesus--I haven't even had the first Martini yet. Although it is overdue.

[Poppy]

Sharpton also referred to Mayor Dinkins as "that n-gger whore turning tricks in City Hall."

Apparently, Sharpton prefers whore, to Ho.

[Jane]

Five minutes of watching MSNBC prior to the debate makes me understand so clearly why I will never ever watch that channel. Moonbats really are on a different planet.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Other Tom:
I haven't even had the first Martini yet. Although it is overdue.

Yeah, just had my first boubon. Just a really good thing it's not tequila. Beligerent hit and run would be hitting walls with his fist right now were he drinking tequila after this

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) this week criticized Gen. David Petraeus for not meeting with members of Congress during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., to report on the status of operations in Iraq, but not only did the commander of Multinational Force - Iraq meet with hundreds of lawmakers, he personally briefed Murtha himself.

Murtha told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday, "They bring Petraeus back - purely political move. Petraeus comes back here. He doesn't talk to any of us. He only talks to the news media and so forth trying to sell this program."

[Jeff Dobbs]

Jane:
Five minutes of watching MSNBC prior to the debate makes me understand so clearly why I will never ever watch that channel.

Yeah, I coulda been subjected to seeing Murtha in an interview.

Oh and look further in that article...

A senior Defense Department official told Cybercast News Service that Petraeus personally briefed Murtha and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an April 24 phone conference that lasted 20-30 minutes.

My tyuipoing maiyo gett worjse, I';lkm pupuptting onnmn boxiong gljoves ttoo prrtootect mmya waalllllss

[Other Tom]

You watch that stuff, and you figure Matthews is going to say, "but wait a minute, Mr. Murtha, didn't he brief you personally?" But you will wait in vain for such an occurrence.

I haven't watched Matthews in four years, and not once have I looked at the fully deranged Olbermann since he left the toy department, where he was more than sufficiently annoying.

[PeterUK.]

An interesting article which pinpoints the moral equivalence which is at the root of the West's malaise.

[clarice]

OT--I think you are right about the Bank. People in DC know about it very well but the rest of the country not so much until now. Even the staff association/Soros websites which have been feeding this crap to the press didn't mention the Zhang business, and the background of Mr. Melkert is still being hidden as much as possible.
Colls, the HR head, has so far been silent.

[Jane]

Is anyone else watching the debate?