Friday O'Blagging

Away we go with the traditional Friday Obama-Blagojevich open thread as I drive into the teeth of the storm.

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

Blago to speak. The excitement builds (click the "stark, raving mad" phrase in the last paragraph of the blog post contained in the LUN).

[Jane]

Where is everyone? Finishing your shopping? Stocking up before the storm?

[Thomas Collins]

What storm? It's still calm here in the Beantown Financial District.

[Jane]

Just you wait TC - and leave work early - cause Deval is scrimping on snow plows this year.

[Thomas Collins]

I'm right here, Jane, trying to decide on Brandypete's, Panera, AuBonPain, Cosi or Scali Deli for lunch. I hope they don't close down for the storm before I get sustenance!

[Thomas Collins]

Well, Jane, if I get stuck here, I will have an excuse not to do the weekend chores!

[Jane]

Ugh. Chores have to be better than paperwork.

[Ken]

I've been absent from the site for a while. What the heck is LUN, and what is it for?

Ken

[Captain Hate]

Link Under Name

[Jane]

LUN means "Link under (my) name" Ken. For those of us HTML challenged, a brilliant person, maybe Cathy, suggested that we post links in the "URL" box under the "name" and "email" boxes on the comments page. And it works for us. If you click on my name, for example, you will be magically transported to John Kass' latest column.

Welcome back.

[Jane]

TC I hope you went to my favorite, Panera (turkey artichoke please).

I'm about 40 miles from the closest Panera. That's probably a good thing, but I miss it.

[DrJ]

I thought it meant "Laughing Until Numb!" Well, that was one of the better guesses...

[peter]

I like the Asiago Roast Beef sandwich at Panera, but being the good Catholic boy, I had a tuna fish salad sandwich on marble rye at the local indy deli.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

Over in yesterday's Blagothon, Captain Hate linked to a bizarre Mark Halperin column in the WSJ which is just begging for a properly ironic fisking! As Bush heads toward the horizon, Halperin is clearly having trouble sorting out what the new reality-based thinking is supposed to be, and I think you have just what it takes to help him out.

If the storm bites Dear Leader, I propose a Friday Night Live cluster fisk.

[MayBee]

I've always given you credit for LUN, Jane.

I just sent out the last of my Christmas cards, many of which will not get to their destination before Christmas.
I've got one present left to purchase.
I've eaten more cookie dough than I would admit under torture, and I keep telling myself the spritz cookies I'm eating by the fistful can't possibly have many calories, even if they are made of butter and egg yolk.

Now it's time to fret about which service workers I've forgotten to give their Christmas extortion/tip.

[peter]

Which "Dear Leader" do you refer to? The lightworker, or Tom?

[peter]

Three inches of wet snow/ rain / snain / predicted here on Long Island. Yet my kid's cub scout pack meeting is canceled. I thought scouting was supposed to teach perseverance.

[BXBrian]

Люблю почитать подобное

[bad]

...a Friday Night Live cluster fisk.

Oh my!! Quick, my smelling salts....

[Jane]

I've always given you credit for LUN, Jane.

WEll I ~brilliantly~ codified it to initials, but someone else told me how to do it.

I wonder - will that be my legacy?

[Jane]

JMH,

Thank you for turning me onto VDH. He's been writing some great stuff lately.

It's officially blizzarding here now.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

I'm here hoping that Amazon actually delivers all my Christmas shopping today, because I've just discovered that I'm not scheduled to leave for New York Tuesday, as I thought, but Monday morning -- which is when I planned my FedEx run.

peter:

Your tuna suddenly takes me back to the days when virtually everybody in Massachusetts ate fish on Friday's, Catholic or not. My grandparents used to spend the summer on the coast, where it was the kids job to row across the harbour and pick up my grandmother's standing order for swordfish. I could have done without the swordfish myself, but being out in the dingy without a grownup on board was thrilling.

[PD]

The promised storm didn't materialize much here in Wisconsin. We got only 8 inches or so. NBW.

[bad]

Jane, TM and everyone else living in the path of the storm: Be Safe, Be Warm, and Stay Electrified.

[JM Hanes]

O carp, MayBee! I forgot the tips, like totally. You just saved me from a fate worse than death. Now, if you could just make me take my hands off the keyboard and back away from the computer...

[Thomas Collins]

I didn't go to Panera this time, Jane and Peter. When I go to Panera, I usually have tuna on whole grain with lettuce, tomato, onion and extra mayo. But I am going to try both of your suggestions the next two times I go.

[Thomas Collins]

Bluefish is my favorite, JMH. With mustard sauce painted on top.

How about that: a Blago/Food/Storm thread!

[BobS]

The remains were those of Caylee Anthony

[Jane]

I'm warning you TC, it's time to head home. It's almost a white-out here.

[BobS]

Those were Caylee Anthony's remains

[BobS]

Sorry....no determintaion of cause, but classified as "murder of unknown cause"

[clarice]

It is a known fact that there are absolutely no calories in the cookie dough or cookies being made for others.Also none in the baked goods that broke in the process or which need to be sampled to ascertain if they are good enough.

It's clear blue skies , sunshine and 80 degrees on Longboat Key, I banged out a quickie forPM thanks to narciso's prescient comments on Felt which speeded it up, and now I'm about to head outside again.

Sunday I return home to face the music again as you all are now. Stay warm and safe.

[BobS]

Jane: Here in NW Fla, its 73 and I have the windows open. I did a tour of duty in NY. Never again. Snow's only pretty on the first day.

[JM Hanes]

bad: "Stay Electrified"

After pricing generators, I decided to go with the Mother of all Batteries to run the fridge or a heater, and a slightly more modest Powerpack which will run a lamp, radio -- and, of course, my cable modem! Hate to tell you how many times the Powerpack's jumper cables have come in handy.

[Thomas Collins]

I'll go soon, Jane. It's just that on days like this, I get so much work done. It's quiet. The misty snow is swirling around the Custom House Tower. The office heat is working.

I take the commuting train from South Station, so I don't have to deal with driving.

[JM Hanes]

Thomas:

"Blago/Food/Storm" Something about that seems so right, doesn't it?

[PeterUK]

LUN,
Lunch Until Nauseous?

[caro]

JMH, I hope the cluster fisk begins at cocktail hour in the east.

I am also awaiting the coming snowstorm and welcoming it.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Why hasn't Rahm Emanuel vacated his IL-5th Congressional district seat yet?

Want to guess what's on the Fitz tapes?

Sources connected to the Chicago ward bosses have been talking to the Chicago Sun-Times. The stories indicate that Rahm could be in real trouble.

[narciso]

So the idiosycracies of our favorite candidate seem to pile up; first fair Kathleen of Converse and U. Salamanca, does a straight up 'divine right of kings' argument in the weblog I am beginning to loath. Than the whole detail of Levi's mom legal troubles seem to intrude. It really seems like a Northern version of Friday Night Lights doesn't it. Alaska's the new Texas with hockey instead of football, and caribou instead of cattle. Of course, one of the arguments that may arise is why didn't you search her house illegally, before you let him date your daughter; this will come from the same people who puffed up the Troopergate hastle, does seem to dim the festivities a little.

[RichatUF]

narciso-

Re: the Gov. Palin's, daughter's, boyfriend's mother story, I'm pretty sure that will be the lead item for the weekend. Will the "what did she know and when did she know it" formulation be all that far behind? Will this cause the governor to be pressured to resign? I'll be on the fainting couch when Olbermann and Matthews start tsk-tsking the example that Gov. Palin is setting.

Scandal, in Chicago, what scandal ... Blagojevich...who's that?

[ifbunkyhadBlago'shairhewouldbemasteroftheuniverse]

BLAHO HAS BALLS!!!! He will not quit. Thank you Lord!!!!!

PS: Repubs: see how fun life is when you have a pair??

[cathyf]

For those of us HTML challenged, a brilliant person, maybe Cathy, suggested that we post links in the "URL" box...

Nah, wasn't me. Ever the engineer, I keep trying to teach any and all the html to embed links. :-)

[ifbunkyhadBlago'shairhewouldbemasteroftheuniverse]

BLAGO

[clarice]

You mean Gov. Dead Meat?

[Thomas Collins]

Yes, JMH, I agree (although the food Blago prepares is not fine cuisine).

[Jane]

Jane: Here in NW Fla, its 73 and I have the windows open. I did a tour of duty in NY. Never again.

You really are a terrible person Bob. Perhaps not as terrible as Clarice, but nonetheless terrible.

I must say I've been missing my cruising days more than I've missed a vacation in a long time, and it has everything to do with the company I kept - well and the weather.

Winter is officially here. Brrrrrr

[peter]

"I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath," Blagojevich said.

Isn't that what Al Gore said about big tobacco at the Dem convention in 1996?

[RichatUF]

Jane-

Winter is officially here.

Think of it as victory in the War on Weather.

[Thomas Collins]

Well, the Boston Financial District is now in full Algore weather mode (cold and snowy). Time to trek to South Station and hope the commuter trains are still running.

[bgates]

Re: the Gov. Palin's, daughter's, boyfriend's mother story
What a terrible family. I found a photo of that boorish Levi Johnston drunk, after he stupidly put the tasteless picture on the internet.
Thank goodness it's nothing but first-class temperaments in the White House starting next month.

[BobS]

Geeeez, Dem Troll. Alot of us here probably arew thrilled that another of your morally bankrupt pols will stay on to make an ass of himself and make nothing but problems for Zero.

[MayBee]

Friday Night Live cluster fisk.

Brilliant, JMH!

Clarice- thank you for your scientific input. Today I have been checking that the cookies are remaining fresh. For the children. I think I may actually be losing weight with all this activity.

[DrJ]

Winter is officially here.

Here in NorCal too. We had snow here yesterday, and that only happens every few years. I had no idea Gore was visiting.

[rhymin' simon]

the plan was for Blago to give JJJ/Jarrett the seat with the understanding that Obama gets Fitz out of Chicago in January and Blago off the hook.
How about Blago allowing himself to be taped to cop a lesser plea and giving Fitz the media attention and letting the public know how illinois politics works. He was already hanging because of Rezko.
Does it not seem odd that he never followed Obama's advise to resign.

[MayBee]

BLAHO HAS BALLS!!!! He will not quit. Thank you Lord!!!!!

It is a gift for all of us.

[rhymin' simon]

Madoff reminded me of the wrong outcome from The Flamingo Kid movie since we learned that he made money as alifeguard in Long Island.

[clarice]

Think how nice it will be in the storm, Jane. You can spend your time doing more photoshopping with Steyn. (*HEH*)

[Extraneus]

the plan was for Blago to give JJJ/Jarrett the seat with the understanding that Obama gets Fitz out of Chicago in January and Blago off the hook

Are you conjecturing, rhymin' (if so, well done!), or has that been reported somewhere?

[BobS]

Jane: I don't mean to gloat too much. (I had to turn on the AC) And I live in a republican stronghold of like minded neocons.

[clarice]

From today's Taranto BOTW (Rick will really love this one.):
"

Online Journal E-Mail Center





December 19, 2008 -- 3:37 p.m. EST
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, video interviews and commentary on Opinion Journal.

FORMAT TODAY'S COLUMN FOR PRINTING

Groping With Racism's Legacy
Obama didn't write that overhyped speech after all.By JAMES TARANTO

A Financial Innovation Everyone Should Love
"Credit Suisse Group AG's investment bank has found a new way to reduce the risk of losses from about $5 billion of its most illiquid loans and bonds: using them to pay employees' year-end bonuses," Bloomberg reports:

The bank will use leveraged loans and commercial mortgage- backed debt, some of the securities blamed for generating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, to fund executive compensation packages, people familiar with the matter said. The new policy applies only to managing directors and directors, the two most senior ranks at the Zurich-based company, according to a memo sent to employees today.
"While the solution we have come up with may not be ideal for everyone, we believe it strikes the appropriate balance among the interests of our employees, shareholders and regulators and helps position us well for 2009," Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan and Paul Calello, CEO of the investment bank, said in the memo.
The securities will be placed into a so-called Partner Asset Facility, and affected employees at the bank, Switzerland's second biggest, will be given stakes in the facility as part of their pay. Bonuses will take the first hit should the securities decline further in value.
This is such a great idea, we're surprised it took this long for someone to think of it. And contrary to the memo, this does seem "ideal for everyone." Shareholders gets relief from the risk associated with imprudent investments. Credit Suisse executives get their bonuses despite having made those imprudent investments--and if the risk pays off, they get the reward. What's not to like?"

[centralcal]

Golly, Dr. J, I wish we could have gotten a little snow down here in the valley too. But, no, only cold, foggy or overcast. Bummer.

Hooray to Blago - he's gonna keep the story going indefinitely. Between him and Caylee Anthony, the media won't have too much time for Palin's soon to be s-i-l.

For now, I am off to read BOTW at Clarice's behest.

[fdcol63]

Yeah, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann will be yukking it up about the Palin's duaghter's boyfriend's mother drug charge, but will conveniently ignore mentioning those photos of a reefer-toking youthful Obama.

Drugs? What drugs?

Never mind the Blago story.

[Topsecretk9]

How about Blago allowing himself to be taped to cop a lesser plea and giving Fitz the media attention and letting the public know how illinois politics works. He was already hanging because of Rezko.
Does it not seem odd that he never followed Obama's advise to resign.

Can you explain this more please?

[bad]

Clarice, that idea from Credit Suisse Group is fantastic. I look forward to updates in the future.

[bad]

Greenpeace dude says all this cold, snow and ice is due to global warming. If my mom saw that, she probably took out the TV.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Maybe Goldman could follow up by paying off their deadbeats brilliant strategists with $200 June oil options? Citi could hand out warrants exercisable at last year's high.

Brilliant idea by Credit Suisse. It would be even funnier if they assigned specific loans - give their folks a chance to meet some real Americans.

[DrJ]

cc, I wish we could have gotten a little snow down here in the valley too.

You have to go up the hill a ways for that.

BTW, I love the modesty of the area about elevations. The hills around Phoenix are called "mountains," yet the Sierra Nevada range here is called the "hill." The summit is over 7,000 feet.

So we "go over the hill" to Reno or to Lake Tahoe.

[fdcol63]

DrJ,

Have you ever gone north of Phoenix on I-17 into the "National Forest"? LOL

[DrJ]

fd, sure I've gone up I-17. It is practically the only way to go the the Grand Canyon from Phoenix. The forest there actually is the typical jack pines you find in higher elevations. Rather similar to the trees in Sierra up here once you get over about 3000 feet or so.

But no one would confuse it with Muir Woods or Armstrong Redwoods.

[Jane]

Jane: I don't mean to gloat too much. (I had to turn on the AC) And I live in a republican stronghold of like minded neocons.

Harummph!

Clarice if you are not careful I will get madpen in here. She frantically made that sign after I stole it from table 35. (I hear Holland America is still looking for it.) She will set you straight!

Hail Blago. We always seem happier around here when scandal is brewing. Don't tell anyone. I do like that he quoted a rhyming Rudyard Kipling poem? Who rhymes on their way to the hoosegow?

Maybee, I too am on the cookie making diet. Does it also work when you make bourson cheese (for gifts of course)?

So everyone says Rahmbo is in a little thicker than O has so far led on. And he's been sooooooooooo quiet. That makes me smile.

I've settled in for the blizzard. ~Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Good luck to all of you in the storm/blizzard areas. I remember those days from my years in Buffalo, NY and Western PA.

We were paralyzed here a few days ago with 6 inches of snow. Of course, I live in Southern California, in the desert, so we aren't exactly prepared for snow. Today it isn't as cold with temps at 58 degrees, but a far cry from the 80s, 90s and triple digits we are used to.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

DrJ: My Mom grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and spent her Summers in the High Sierras. She moved East after college. She used to laugh every time she was driving in or around Western Pa and would see signs that said mountain summit 2700 ft. To her, that was a small hill not a mountain summit. It is all perspective I guess.

[DrJ]

I remember those days from my years in Buffalo, NY

Me too, Sara. I lived for some years in Rochester. The lake-effect snow dumps there are quite something. The last year I was there we had 120 inches of snow over the winter.

That's why I now live in CA. The snow we get where I live never comes more than once every few years, and it is rare that it stays more than an hour.

Tahoe of course make Buffalo look like the sun belt.

[Rick Ballard]

Did you know that investing in China is like checking into the Hotel California?

Neither did Bank of America. Apparently, passing even part of BRIC is very difficult. How surprising.

[Extraneus]

Hey, this line from rhymin' simon

the plan was for Blago to give JJJ/Jarrett the seat with the understanding that Obama gets Fitz out of Chicago in January and Blago off the hook

makes a lot of sense, considering that, of all things, this is what Blag probably cared about the most. How would it look if Fitz had Rahm on tape brokering that?

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

You can watch the video of Blago's press conference HERE.

[sbw]

Well, we are buttoned up warm and cozy for the weekend to let the storm blow itself out. Nothing to do but eat, decorate the tree, frost Christmas cookies, check JOM from time to time, and watch football. And if the power does go out, we fire up the kerosene heater, and listen to football via the XM radio. Winter in central New York.

[Porter]

Just thinking out loud here, but I bet Blagojevich's first choice for Senate had the last name of Madigan. Then he realized they wouldn't pay.

Mr. Shakedown Jr. would be the most profitable appointment. V. Jarrett would only be appointed if Obama was going to cough up some "adulation".

Blagojevich is now officially the sideshow, in my eyes. It's all on Rahm's shoulders now. And, from the sound of it, he believes he's going to skate. Just has to make it to inauguration. He'll resign his seat, maybe, at that point.

Just thought of something, he might not resign his seat and try to get away with it. Will the state of Illinois try to strip him of it? Doubt it. He's just arrogant enough to try and pull it off. That way he can use the "debate" clause to dodge any prosecution.

Sneaky. I bet he tries it.

More popcorn please.

[Extraneus]

Your best post yet, Porter, IMO. Glad you showed up here.

[narciso]

"So Caroline you were saying about your experience on charity boards and such"
Just a little snark to start off the conversation. So Kathleen (Johnson) should really move to Diomede Island or failing that Russia, "you can see it from here" did she not learn anything from the Troopergate
situation, you do not threaten or even embarass the Ohonitsa's family. She really qualifies as one of Jay Leno's stupid
criminals; how did she think she was going to get way with this. It really does put Caroline's whining in perspective. The other
Kathleen should consider similar
arrangements, I'm just saying

None of this diminishes my admiration for Sarah, in fact quite the opposite. But it does tend to focus the issues a little more tightly. She carries seemingly the weight of the world, certainly her family and the
State of Alaska upon her, slanders and trials piled upon her, like few others. Under those conditions, weaker being's faith
must falter, but she evinces no sign of it.

[Barney Frank]

Rather similar to the trees in Sierra up here once you get over about 3000 feet or so.

In my career logging the Sierras I've whacked a few six footers (diameter) and many a four footer so I wouldn't say Arizona's forest is overly similar to the Sierra over 3000 feet. More like the Sierra over the crest in the rain shadow.

BTW, as Sara said, there is nothing more pathetic than Californians in a snow storm. Spent 1 1/2 hours sitting stuck in traffic when one puny inch of snow created a veritable roller derby hell amongst the little Nipponese cars without chains out on the highway a couple of days ago.

[matt]

what is interesting is that Fitzgerald was appointed to the Illinois US Attorney's post over the objections of virtually the entire state establishment, both Republican and Democrat, specifically to root out corruption and specifically because he was a hard nosed outsider. The uproar because of the appointment almost split the Illinois Republican party.

Since being appointed in 2000 he has had over 100 convictions in Illinois on federal, state, city, and county officials, with only one overturn on appeal. That is a hell of a record.

The entire state political establishment wants this guys head. We'll see if Obama leaves him in the job. I didn't like what he did to Libby, but with that record, it's hard to argue.

[matt]

Barney;

one of our employees was stuck for 5 hours at the top of the Cajon Pass for the same reason....Then again, when it was raining, I saw 4 major accidents on the way to and from work.

[DrJ]

BF, I think a lot of the chain requirements in CA result from people's inability to drive in snow. OTOH, it is not unique. In Rochester there were hundreds of accidents on the first few snow days. Then -- boing! -- everyone seemed to remember how to drive in the slippery stuff.

Annual amnesia, I called it.

[clarice]

I will say when narciso loves someone, he really loves her. Palin is one lucky woman to have such a true and ardent supporter.

[larwyn]

Great fun coming - just saw this at Hewitt's

Blagojevich Will Get All Of the Emanuel Tapes
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 8:51 PM

I asked this morning if Blagojevich would get the tapes of Emanuel's conversations with him (which can then be leaked as payback or for leverage.) Answer, from a federal prosecutor: Yes. The e-mail:

GREAT QUESTION.

Answer – once Blago is indicted, he’s 100% entitled to the recordings.

Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure:

“(a)(1)(B) Upon the defendant’s request, the government MUST DISCLOSE to the defendant, and make available for inspection, copying, or photographing, all of the following:

n Any relevant written or recorded statement by the defendant.

Wiretap recordings are among the first things demanded by defense lawyers in wiretap cases. They get the whole recording, not just their client’s portion, because they need the entire conversation in order to fully understand the context of what was being discussed.

So, yes, Blago’s lawyers are going to get complete copies – not just transcripts – of everything Emanuel said to him.

And, I’m guessing that Fitzgerald has not shared with the Obama administration what it is Emanuel has been recorded as saying, thus the complete silence by Emanuel since this issue broke into the press. He can’t say anything now for fear that there is a recorded conversation that will contradict him.

UPDATE: I wonder what the National Enquirer will pay for the the Blago Defense Fund for first serializiation rights for the tapes.

ME; GOING TO TRY LUN

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

He's not alone. NY is about to install the niece of a drunken bum, sister of one of the dumber 'Dead Kennedys', cousin to a rapist and a murderer plus assorted other doped or juiced up trash bearing the same scurvy name to the Senate. Her lice infested, drunken binge collection are all descended from a common thief and bootlegger who purchased what little "respectability" he ever had before J. Edgar caught up with him.

My admiration for Sarah is growing even faster than my complete contempt for Kennedy and the media whores who have elevated these scurrilous Boston based pustules on the body politic to a position which not one of them (including Saint JF "it's just a B12 booster" K) deserves in any way.

[centralcal]

Clarice: Narciso just has really good taste in (pretty) women.

Dr J: are you in the Colfax area? I can't remember. My daughter and her family and I passed through there on the way to Truckee for Thanksgiving. I wanted to honk and wave to you, but then, I wasn't sure I remembered correctly what your location was.

Truckee is one cold place to live. It is really nice to visit - but too darned cold for me most of the year.

[peter]

Those darn youths. LUN

[matt]

Blago would be very stupid to say anything further at this point. Anything he says can and will be used etc.....In the Ryan case, it was interesting to note that the federal investigation was chugging along until the kickbacks on his Jamaican vacations came to light. At that point the prosecutors figured that Ryan was a lying sack, and any sense of mercy was dispensed with.

Prosecutors have feelings too, I guess...just really draconian ones....

[matt]

there are good Kennedys out there Rick. It's just that branch of the clan that is a disgrace.

[Porter]

larwyn-

There is significant precedent, here in Illinois, that evidence may be withheld in a conspiracy trial. They do that to the mob guys all the time. Cooley's testimony comes to mind as an example. Gensen has faced this situation before and didn't do very well.

Rahm can say anything he wants in public. He just can't do it under oath. He, I believe, is still thinking out his strategy. Attacking Ken Starr was his last winning defense strategy, bore all his fingerprints. When it cuts loose, his game plan will be brutal and in your face. It's the only game he knows, and Mr. Fitzgerald knows it. And, I believe he's ready for it.

A side note, a good tell-tale to the criminal level that all involved have acheived is the utter silence of Luis Guiterrez, the ultimate Illinois opportunist. When your enemy is commiting suicide...

[Porter]

Matt-

That was what tipped the jury pool in the prosecutions favor, all they did was push it a little bit.

[Extraneus]

Is Caroline going on with Katie and Charles Gibson?

[centralcal]

Princess Caroline has not weathered well. Something about the Kennedy women that just does not stand the test of time, lookswise, that is.

[DrJ]

CC, are you in the Colfax area?

In Auburn, down the hill a tad. Please stop by the next time you come by. There's an email address under name.

[Fithian]

Looks like we've been preempted on the Helprin front (although Peter Wehner's fisking lacks a little JOM ne sais quoi), so I guess we'll just have to cluster on bravely.

[Extraneus]

...the fact is that Iraq is a free, self-governing nation that is an ally instead of an adversary of the United States. This is an enormously important achievement.

Yes, that's going be hard to argue with.

[ifbunkyhadBlago'shairhewouldbemasteroftheuniverse]

Obama will have 4, maybe 5 Supreme Court appointments. I need a drink.