Expect The Unexpected

I try to believe six impossible things before breakfast:

Clinton puzzled at Pakistan failure to find al Qaeda

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's said on Thursday it was "hard to believe" that no one in Pakistan's government knew where al Qaeda leaders were hiding, striking a new tone on a trip where Washington's credibility has come under attack.

My goodness - I would expect that a woman who couldn't even find her Rose Law Firm billing records in her own White House residence would be a bit more sympathetic.

So now Hillary is traveling the world questioning other people's veracity - we never would have had this kind of fun if McCain had won.

Comments

[osıɔɹɐu]

Well she knows about Mohammed Iqbal, but not our Lady of Guadalupe. It seems a pigheaded move after what happened at Peshawar yesterday. So much for tact and diplomacy, and well play ball

[Ignatz]

--My goodness - I would expect that a woman who couldn't even find her Rose Law Firm billing records in her own White House residence would be a bit more sympathetic.--

Heh.

[peter]

Never thought we'd have a SoS who could make Madeline Albright and Colin Powell look good.

[Thomas Collins]

Hillary CAN'T BE THAT STUPID. I suspect that this is a message to the Pakistani government that it is time to toughen up. Unfortunately, given the current foreign policy of the country she represents, she doesn't have much credibility.

[Sue]

Hillary CAN'T BE THAT STUPID.

Uhmmmm...yes she can.

[bad]

Hey, don't diss Hillary!! She has nearly died in service to this country multiple times....

[sbw]

Yes, several times from sheer mortification.

[Sue]

I'll be the first to say that I wish she was president and not Obama. That just means Obama is really bad. But, I don't want Hillary hurt. Or anyone for that matter. I am really glad she was not close enough to the bombing to even be able to use it in a story. But she will. ::grin::

[osıɔɹɐu]

Well Obama would expound on his love of Urdu Poetry, like some bad version of Josiah
Bartlett, I guess they do need to be reminded that they (the ISI and the Army) created this monster, called the Taliban and AQ. Yes she played to the peanut gallery
on Bush

[Old Lurker]

"Hillary CAN'T BE THAT STUPID"

Evidence of that, please?

BTW, where is everybody tonight?

[Gregory Koster]

Sue, be thankful that no time machine exists that could cast you back to, say, January 2008. Your younger self would be horrified, and the more she contemplated what you said, the more horrified and dismayed she'd become, particularly when she realized she, unlike you, her older self, would have to live through all this. At least we've crossed ten months off the prison calendar...

I am waiting for Pakistan's government to issue a press release denouncing Hillary's State Department for not being able to find Harold Koh's memorandum on Honduras, a disingenuous bit of fraud bawling that everyone in Honduras is a crook except Hugo Chavez's pal Zelaya. Characteristically, Hillary's State Department is unable to find it and can only mutter something about The Once's dog eating it instead of that Sidwell Friends bit of homework. So the press on resolutely, kicking out some Honduran diplomats and muttering vague threats about giving the works to some other low level folks. Question for JOMers: who is grinning more at these moronic antics: Putin, the Chinese, or the Pakistanis?

[TWoPolitics]

Isn't looking for al Queda like trying to find out where Waldo is?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Is she puzzled, or merely shocked?

[bgates]

we never would have had this kind of fun if McCain had won.

McCain would have been perfectly capable of naming Hillary SoS in the name of bipartisanship and Senate collegiality.

[clarice]

This is so good in so many ways, TM..I think I have to blog it.

[clarice]

I captioned the blog "Hillary Does Lahore" though I'm not sure it'll pass the censorious eye of the editor..

[Extraneus]

At least the woman's got style.

[clarice]

Imagine being so power driven that instead of using some of her pots of dough to travel and learn and enjoy her life she's willing to make an idiot of herself on the world stage in the service of a nincompoop.

[Extraneus]

What???

Iran response to proposed nuclear deal called inadequate

This can't be.

[Jane]

I can't believe she hasn't quit. Maybe she actually believes - well, what could she believe?

[Terry Gain]

Commenter MB4 has posted this quote of the Tuzla Trickster at Hot Air.

In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
– Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

She says she opposed Bush for 8 years but in fact she only did so when it was expedient. She's not always as shameless as her boss. Only when necessary. He can't help himself.

[BR]

Hey, Hillary, tell them to look under the bed.

[Janet]

Working at the State Dept. must just suck their brains out. Is there an asbestos problem in the building?
...and they all seem to fawn over each other there. "You're so wonderful." "No, YOU'RE so wonderful."

[matt]

I like the Pakistani soldiers hat better, myself. She gets upstaged by everyone these days.

I can't wait for her memoir; "Screwing the Pooch in 26 languages".

[osıɔɹɐu]

Well they didn't take me, and wouldn't tell me which part of the foreign service exam
I didn't pass, not the actual knowledge part
but that other useless information,

[clarice]

Pakistan is I think seeding the plot--is it for real or to keep us on the string they've been playing out for the past few years?
"SHERWANGAI, Pakistan – Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a guerrilla war.

The military on Thursday took foreign and local journalists for a first look inside the largely lawless territory since it launched a ground offensive here in mid-October. The U.S.-backed operation is focused on a section of the tribal region where the Pakistani Taliban are based and are believed to shelter al-Qaida.

Soldiers displayed passports seized in the operation, among them a German document belonging to a man named Said Bahaji. That matches the name of a man thought to have been a member of the Hamburg cell that conceived the 9/11 attacks. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.

The passport included a tourist visa for Pakistan and a stamp indicating he'd arrived in the southern city of Karachi on Sept. 4, 2001.

Another passport, from Spain, bears the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. Spanish media have reported that a woman with the same name is married to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004."

[clarice]

Red State reporting Pataki endorsed Hoffman:
"Red State ^ | Oct 29, 2009 | Erick Erickson
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile) Thursday, October 29th at 8:53PM EDT I am told reliably, but have not yet confirmed, that Governor George Pataki endorsed Doug Hoffman tonight at a Conservative Party event. As Matt Drudge would say: Developing . . . If this is so, this is huge. Pataki routinely won NY-23 by huge margins. He remains quite popular up there. UPDATE: IT IS CONFIRMED. Gov. George Pataki has endorsed Doug Hoffman for the United States Congress. "

[BR]

Clarice at 10:47 - thank you!
This is great news, a major win!

While Pakistani soldiers are risking and losing their lives, Hillary bitches. Not only should she be ashamed of herself, she should resign for disgracing America.

[Ann]

Pataki (who I never really liked) is making Newt, Huckabee and Romney look like sore losers.

[MarkO]

"Hillary CAN'T BE THAT STUPID"

How did that D. C. bar thing go?

[Joan]

This gang running our country -- Obama, his administration, czars, advisors, and Democrats in senate and house -- believe in themselves, not in the United States of America.

And, Hillary, a woman who couldn't even manage her own marriage, is out there thinking world leaders take her seriously.

Heaven help us.

[BR]

Yes, it's just amazing, isn't it, Joan.

If these 1,000-page bills suddenly disappeared from all the House and Senate office desks, files and computers, it would be interesting to see where they go to find the original drafts. Probably the major law offices and leftist think tanks.

[daddy]

My computer tells me that بمبو یرپتیوں means "Bimbo Eruption" in Urdu.

[BR]

That's so funny. Talking of bimbos, I once saw a soccer game on tv, where one side wore shirts with "Bimbo" on the back. I rolled over laughing at this spectacle, thinking those macho South Americans have no idea how funny that looks to English speakers. Now, I don't know if this is normal in a soccer game, but pretty soon they started taking their shirts off!

I later found out it's a brand of bread.

[BR]

Fee Fi Fo Fum,
I should start watching Hillary on tv more.
I used to have fun making her cough
whether it's live or recorded earlier.

[daddy]

Ughh,

Many papers this morning reporting ">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6896536.ece#at"> Zelaya is returning to power in Honduras within 48 hours due to massive pressure from the US and the International Community.

And at the same time Hot Air links ">http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/29/kerry-wants-law-library-report-on-honduras-retracted/"> a story saying Senator John Kerry is ordering the Law Library Of Congress to retract its finding that Honduras acted lawfully in removing Zelaya for his crimes against their Constitution.

What a window into a Brave New World where America is no longer the friend of freedom, but simply another one of the usual suspects.

[daddy]

Morning BR,

Are you an early riser or have you got insomnia like me?

[BR]

I decided long ago that 24 hours is not a long enough day :)

The Honduras matter needs attention. Let's make a thought-action together.

[BR]

Btw, did you see my invitation in Ode to Beer the other night?

[BR]

Oh, wow, you did! I hadn't seen your response until now.

[daddy]

I did BR,

I set up a rendezvous last night at 3 AM. Skipped out on the kids and wife and had beer, wine etc all set up, but one of us was a No Show:(

As for Honduras, I need to find out if the rumor I heard about a recent gangland style execution of the acting President's son a few days back may have had something to do with getting The Honduran's to change their position on Zelaya. Nothing would surprise me about this bunch anymore.

And Its also interesting that Lou Dobb's house and wife just got shot at. It'll be interesting who gets the blame for that, angry rightwingers or nasty lefty's. If I read between his lines, he's making noises about folks opposed to his anti-immigrant stance possibly being to blame, but who knows. Since he has a megaphone, I think the Pelosi's will try to turn it into an example of the style of harsh right wing talk she was moaning about pushing people to do scary things, so that the right will get tagged for creating a climate conducive to such incidents, regardless of the actual particulars of the case.

And it's going to be a cold Trick or Treating episode come Saturday. We've had some snow and it's getting 'brisk'. But the good news is that means Industrial Strength bags of SweeTart's available at the Safeway. Yumm! Nite nite.

[BR]

Ah ha, we both came at 6:30! Now I'll read yours above. (We must be in telepathy: just before I read yours about Honduras, the phrase "the usual suspects" came to me.)

[Kali dances in the night]

Be strong, Honduras.

[Kali's Shadows fly in the night]

Colonel and Micheletti's nephew assassinated in separate incidents. 10/26/09.

[fdcol63]

Orwell was wrong ...... by 25 years.

[Janet]

The WaPo is practically "screaming in print" this morning. They REALLY hate the Republican Ken Cuccinelli that is running for Att. Gen. of Virginia - as opposed to just the regular hate they feel for Republican McDonnell.
I'm figuring Cuccinelli must be pretty good.
**Drive the Washington Post Crazy**
**Vote McDonnell** **Vote Cuccinelli**
Our elections seem to be Republicans vs. media now. The Dems. are just empty suits promoted by the media.

[fdcol63]

That the MSM has any credibility left at all means that too many people are still clueless.

[daddy's wife]

This one's for you, daddy :)
If you like Pina Colada

[bunky]

Foggy Bottom

[Janet]

((I like the Pakistani soldiers hat better, myself. She gets upstaged by everyone these days.))

Too funny matt!

[J]

Heck, she couldn't even find her husband while they were living in the same house. There are no redeeming characters in this really bad tragedy....obama's government.

[someguy]

Have you noticed that Barack Obama only sends Hillary into places where she's likely to be killed?

He didn't send her to negotiate the release of the journalists in North Korea. He sent Bill.

Obama didn't send her to negotiate with Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. He sent John Kerry.

No, Obama sent her into Pakistan where al Queda is operating freely and bombings are occurring daily and where government employees are actually helping al Queda.

He's clearly trying to get her assassinated so she won't run against him in 2012.

[BR]

Good point, Someguy. See The Illogics at 2:44 am.

[BumperStickerist]

Quick question:

I saw the picture up thread, when did Queen Elizabeth become the US Secretary of State?

just wondering.

[Janet]

Either Queen Elizabeth or a low budget production of the Blue Man Group touring Pakistan!

[Appalled]

Actually, folks, this is the Hillary quote of the day in Pakistan:

'At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities,’ Clinton told businessmen, taking swipe at tax evasion in the cash-strapped country.

‘The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,’ she said.

LUN.

[Ranger]

Talk about impossible things, today's Brooks column hits Obama hard on the war:

But they do not know if he possesses the trait that is more important than intellectual sophistication and, in fact, stands in tension with it. They do not know if he possesses tenacity, the ability to fixate on a simple conviction and grip it, viscerally and unflinchingly, through complexity and confusion. They do not know if he possesses the obstinacy that guided Lincoln and Churchill, and which must guide all war presidents to some degree.

...

So I guess the president’s most important meeting is not the one with the Joint Chiefs and the cabinet secretaries. It’s the one with the mirror, in which he looks for some firm conviction about whether Afghanistan is worthy of his full and unshakable commitment. If the president cannot find that core conviction, we should get out now. It would be shameful to deploy more troops only to withdraw them later. If he does find that conviction, then he should let us know, and fill the vacuum that is eroding the chances of success.

Its as close as Brooks can probably come to saying "W could do this, why can't you?"

[fdcol63]

Appalled,

I think Powerline makes a good case for an even better Clinton quote:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/10/024827.php

As a way of repudiating past U.S. policies toward Pakistan, Clinton told the students "there is a huge difference" between the Obama administration's approach and that of former President George W. Bush. "I spent my entire eight years in the Senate opposing him," she said to a burst of applause from the audience of several hundred students. "So to me, it's like daylight and dark."

One can only agree with Hannah's comment:

Does anyone advising President Obama and the secretary of state really believe that this kind of partisanship and trash-talking abroad about another American president is going to buy us much long-term goodwill among either our friends or our adversaries? Do they imagine that this sort of thing really helps to advance U.S. national interests?

As far as her clear frustration with the Pakistanis and her comment about "Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know.", maybe she's beginning to understand what kind of tightrope the Bush administration walked on while trying to get the Paks to do more to fight the Islamists inside their own borders while trying not to destabilize the situation so much that it ensured larger civil war that might give the Islamists control of the Pak nukes.

[fdcol63]

Close italics

[fdcol63]

Close

[fdcol63]

Try again ?

[fdcol63]

Sorry, I've tried to close the italics.

[Frau Weisenheimer]

"Smart Diplomacy" ...

[PD]

off

[clarice]

Stuart Taylor on the Administration threat to the First Amendment.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/coverstory.php

[Janet]

Terry Gain's post at 10:05 reminds us of Hillary's "opposition" to W..

[fdcol63]

Thanks, PD.

[Janet]

That is 10:05 pm - back a page, for the Terry post.

[osıɔɹɐu]

Right and having a tax cheat in theTreasury,
and in the main tax writing committee will make that all the more convincing. David, you are a cretinous fool if you even really
entertained that thought that he would be steadfast. That was the other team. Now the problem is though we can't retreat from the Hindu Kush region, so it's the worst of both worlds

[Jane]

Did anyone else see this: I love it!

Krauthammer to Obama: Prepare 3 envelopes

Old Soviet joke:

Moscow, 1953. Stalin calls in Khrushchev.

“Niki, I’m dying. Don’t have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble.”

A few years later, first crisis. Khrushchev opens envelope 1: “Blame everything on me. Uncle Joe.”

A few years later, a really big crisis. Opens envelope 2: “Blame everything on me. Again. Good luck, Uncle Joe.”

Third crisis. Opens envelope 3: “Prepare three envelopes.”

LUN

[clarice]

HEH.

[ben]

In the disgusting creep category:

"Author Gore Vidal says he refuses to feel any sympathy for Roman Polanski’s rape victim, whom he dubs a “hooker.”

In an interview with The Atlantic, the controversial 83-year-old author of such books as “Myra Breckinridge” and “1876” says of the director’s sex scandal, “I really don’t give a [expletive]. Look am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she’s being taken advantage of?”

[Thomas Collins]

Captain Hate, take a look at the first two paragraphs of Jane's 10:21 AM LUN. Dorothy Fuldheim is mentioned.

[They've actually written it down. It's in a draft Copenhagen treaty.]

Bolton and Monckton both are going to be on Beck's show today, explaining how the tranzis plan to enslave us all with carbon guilt.
====================================

[osıɔɹɐu]

Well its' the Atlantic, which really went by the boards after Michael Kelly passed away in Iraq, 6 1/2 years ago. They gave support to Richard Clarke's anti Iraq war
dystopian scenario, wearing everyconceivable
argument against our effort there.Carrying the torch for Islamists everywhere, from the West Bank to our own backyards. They have two generally good reporters there in
Bowden and Kaplan, and occassionally they have some good urban stories,They releaved Mark Steyn of his amusing obituaries beat,, and they fell so hard for the one it should be labeled NC-17. and Sullivan or Douthat, or Conor F. I'm going to be ill.

[Janet]

This image that Ann posted on another thread of Michelle straddling cabbage...

made me think she might be interested in these - LUN
The Crouch Without the Ouch!

[glasater]

Got it Tivo'd Kim. You betcha!

[Ignatz]

--This image that Ann posted on another thread of Michelle straddling cabbage...--

Well, at least she's not straddling the zuchini. Guess date night went OK.
Sorry, in bad taste I know.

[Porchlight]

That looks like fennel in her hand. Wow, fennel, just what kids want to eat. How exciting.

[Porchlight]

Pataki endorses Hoffman

All right y'all, it's getting near time for predictions on the hat trick of McDonnell, Christie and Hoffman. My dad, who is cautious about these things, thinks Christie can win, and Barone thinks Hoffman has a good chance, so now I'm feeling good about all three.

[clarice]

I hope so, porchlight.

I got a response from my old school conceding I'd made a good point about the Obama love in the mailer stupidly sent to me with a request for a contribution. The fundraising arm will notify the program arm that offending about 50% of potential givers is not smart.

And for this morning's treat--IOWAHAWK
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2009/10/obama-like-me-roman-please.html>Julius

[Porchlight]

Good for you, clarice. I'm a fundraiser for my alma mater and I wouldn't in a million years let anything even mildly political come from us. Even though it's a liberal school and the vast majority of our classmates are probably Obama supporters, it's still just a dumb move to potentially anger anyone.

We do have some older alums with sense, however. Bill Clinton spoke at graduation in 2000 and a healthy number of alums have refused to donate - very loudly - ever since.

[fdcol63]

The Polanski thing destroyed what little tolerance I had left for Hollyweird and its liberal elites.

It revealed the absolute moral void that these people have, and clarified the fact that they do not share my values or those of the majority of Americans in "flyover" land.

They may be interested in making money, but believe me, they are also interested in pushing their values on the rest of us through their movies, music, and products.

[bunky]

Corzine is gonna thrash Christie with help from the Indpart (Dem tool) creep.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

McCain would have been perfectly capable of naming Hillary SoS in the name of bipartisanship and Senate collegiality.

I wonder what it would be like it Hillary really were SoS?

[fdcol63]

Yeah. Sounds like sKerry is the real SecState.

[Porchlight]

Bolton backs Hoffman too

The momentum is all in Hoffman's direction, that's for sure. If he wins, there's going to be a nice little informative dividing line among GOP presidential hopefuls - the Hoffman-backers and the non-Hoffman backers.

[BR]

This really makes my blood boil: 10/30/09 article Obama's Orwellian health care vision. Re: VeriChip Corp.

"In recent days, there have been rumors on Wall Street, and elsewhere, of the potential uses for RFID in humans: the chipping of U.S. soldiers, of inmates, or of migrant workers, to name a few."

RFID = radio frequency identification devices

VeriChip Corp. - 21st century Krupp plus Wall Street again, just like then:

First the Nazis came for the mentally disabled, then the gypsies, then the criminals, then the Jews, then the Polish and French Resistance and would have overrun the free world if it weren't for Allied soldiers. So, this time they're including soldiers in the chipping.

Can you imagine if these chips are two-way and can send commands to the wearers?

Hackers, you may be our new Resistance.

[fdcol63]

The Hoffman case will largely determine which faction prevails in the GOP - the "Conservatives" (whether Neo- or Paleo-) or the "Realists" - going into 2010.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Can you imagine if these chips are two-way and can send commands to the wearers?

Can you imagine if the chips give you superpowers and let you fly?

C'mon, folks, there are privacy reasons to worry about being RFID'd, but this is bad scifi.

[Old Lurker]

"Yeah. Sounds like sKerry is the real SecState."

Well this week perhaps, but last week it was Geo Mitchell and before that, Holbrooke, and of course Biden always has first dibs on the portfolio, so it is nice to give Kerry (who served in Viet Nam, BTW) a turn at the wheel.

[fdcol63]

Call me crazy, but I think liberals want to push nationalized healthcare for many nefarious reasons, but chief among them is that it gives them the opportunity to RFID or chip all of our children.

It may start out relatively benignly, like voluntarily chipping children for ID purposes, like fingerprinting, in cases of missing children, or for referencing critical medical information in cases of incapacitation and emergencies.

Then, like fingerprinting, parents will be "guilted" into having their children implanted. I mean, what responsible parent wouldn't do so because of the positive reasons described above?

And then, eventually, it will be mandated by the government like vaccinations for schools. While they're at it, they'll take some DNA samples, too.

Pretty soon, they'll be able to track you everywhere you go.

Oh, no need to carry cash, either, and be vulnerable to robbery. Or carry passports.

Just swipe that chip in front of a scanner, et voila! ..... your money is automatically debited from your banking account or you're cleared through UN customs.

"Mark of the Beast", anyone?

[unɹ puɐ ʇıɥ]

ben's quote with slight edit:
"Author Gore Vidal says he refuses to feel any sympathy for Roman Polanski’s the Duke lacrosse team's faux rape victim, whom he dubs a “hooker.”

Believable, right?

[osıɔɹɐu]

Charlie, we have a science advisor out of
"Fringe'(Holdren) another who seemingly longs for ;"Logan's Run" (Emmanuel)and Copenhagen seems very THX-1138ish to me.

[Captain Hate]

Captain Hate, take a look at the first two paragraphs of Jane's 10:21 AM LUN. Dorothy Fuldheim is mentioned.

Was Dorothy known outside of Cleveland?

[Frau Weisenheimer]

On consideration, I think Smart Diplomacy has become Snark Diplomacy.

BYW Hillary! looks better than Babushka Pelosi did running around in a country (Lebanon? Syria?) where a head scarf was optional.

[Janet]

"Mark of the Beast", anyone?

fdcol63 - Yeah. The hatred of Israel/Zionism/Jews is spreading too...or has been there, but is just recently coming out in the open more aggressively.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Narciso, the point is RFID chips can't do those things. As I said, the privacy issues are real; using the RFID chips to make you respond to commands is bad scifi and/or black-helicopter stuff.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Was Dorothy known outside of Cleveland?

Kansas.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I've lost track of the threads, but here's a comparison of Bush and Obama dealing with Gold Star families.