McChrystal Watch

Will General McChrystal survive this Rolling Stone profile?  Should he?

The timing is awful, since we are slated for a big December review and McChrystal has only been in charge in Afghanistan for a year. 

Reasons he might stay include:

 - The article was kind to Hillary!

Only Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle. "Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review," says an adviser. "She said, 'If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.' "

 - The Biden bashing, in context, was just hypothetical kidding around:

Last fall, during the question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as "shortsighted," saying it would lead to a state of "Chaos-istan." The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the fuck up, and keep a lower profile

Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. "I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem," he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner. 

"Are you asking about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal says with a laugh. "Who's that?"

"Biden?" suggests a top adviser. "Did you say: Bite Me?"

One might argue that they are mocking McChrystal's own penchant for self-destruction.  As to the Obama-, Holbrooke- and Jones-bashing, I am out of ammunition.

 - Obama is too busy failing in the gulf to divert his (and our) attention to failing in Afghanistan.

 - How much history does Obama want to make?  From the RS, describing Obama's first surge in March 2009:

Taking the advice of both the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he [Obama] also fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan – and replaced him with a man he didn't know and had met only briefly: Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was the first time a top general had been relieved from duty during wartime in more than 50 years, since Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War.

Hard to blame Bush for that.

As to why McChrystal has to go, well, are you kidding?  Even if he (and his aides) are saying what everyone is thinking, he is not in a position to be saying it.  And where will McChrystal's credibility be if other soldiers start publicly undermining him, or the civilian leadership, and he tries to rein them in?

So - should he stay or should he go now?  I say he is out - the December review was going to be a minefield anyway, since the anti-war left should be in full Vietnam/Iraq flashback mode by then (and their Iraq flashbacks end with the surge in January 2007).  Obama won't want to admit that Bush was right in not trying to put a big army into Afghanistan, which is a logistical nightmare.  But Obama won't want to back a general who has alienated everyone and is delivering results that are at best uneven.

Get rid of McChrystal and hand the ball to a new general who just might engineer a face-saving de-surge for Obama, or at least buy time for a delay in the review - that will be the ticket.

SINCE YOU ASK:  I was a surge skeptic last fall, "partly because of the difficulty and expense of achieving something like success and partly because we clearly do not have leadership committed to this".

Comments

[glasater]

It makes me nauseous that Hillary is getting the good press she is-unbelievable.

[Cecil Turner]

But Obama won't want to back a general who has alienated everyone and is delivering results that are at best uneven.

No replacement is going to be able to sell that restrictive ROE half as well as the fire breathing snake-eater. If Obama is serious about the war, he'll keep him. But then he isn't, is he?

[narciso]

"Well in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king"

[matt]

our government is imploding.

[DebinNC]

The article starts out sounding anti-Biden but by p. 5 "the general" seems to vindicate ole Bite Me:

But on June 10th, acknowledging that the military still needs to lay more groundwork, the general announced that he is postponing the offensive until the fall. ...When Vice President Biden was briefed on the new plan in the Oval Office, insiders say he was shocked to see how much it mirrored the more gradual plan of counterterrorism that he advocated last fall. "This looks like CT-plus!" he said, according to U.S. officials familiar with the meeting.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . insiders say he was shocked to see how much it mirrored the more gradual plan of counterterrorism that he advocated last fall.

Except for the teensy little matter of 40,000 extra troops Biden stridently opposed.

[narciso]

The problem always lay with Pakistan, their ISI provided support for the likes of Ismail
Khan's revolt which led to the Soviet invasion, they selected the groups which would benefit from the arms pipeline, created
the Kashmir based groups, Lashkars, Sepah,
Harakat, they backed the Taliban

[Islam is sick from its unearned prosperity.]

Absent Saudi money, the Taliban would be herding sheep.
==========================

[narciso]

Well yes, Kim, that's the other side of the coin, Wahhabism on one side, Deobandism on the other

[PaulL]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Judge blocks offshore drilling moratorium imposed by Obama administration after Gulf spill.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for details on PaulL's 1:52 PM report.

[Old Dad]

It's starting to feel like 1974 meets 1979. An out of control and incompetent executive, a completely irresponsible Congress, oil nightmares, military disasters, retreats, abandonments, hyper inflation on the horizon, recession, Lady Gaga.

Damn I miss Ronald Reagan.

[Sue]

And the Obama administration has already said they will appeal to the 5th Circuit. The 5th was pretty conservative last time we dealt with them, but that has been a few years and I haven't really kept up since then.

[Sue]

Priscilla Owen is on the 5th.

[Thomas Collins]

Bobby Jindal may not have played well on TV after Obama's State of the Union a/k/a It's All About Me speech, but Jindal has been a model of how a leader responds to a disaster.
I hope Jindal's approach, which apparently has won the approval of a Federal District Judge, carries the day in the Fifth Circuit.

Thank God the Ninth Circus doesn't have jurisdiction in this case.

[Jane]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Judge blocks offshore drilling moratorium imposed by Obama administration after Gulf spill.

Isn't that unexpected? Laura Ingraham (I think) said she would be surprised to see the court intervene in something like that.

[Sue]

Edith Brown Clement is also on the 5th.

[Clarice]

DoT said he wasn't optimistic, but when I reminded him that all 7 scientists who Salazar said he relied on when announcing the moratorium, said he misrepresented their work, he was less glum about the prospects for Jindal's challenge.

[Sue]

A brief google shows that 1 Carter appointee and 3 Clinton appointees remain on the 5th. The last 5 were GWB appointees and the remaining are Reagan/GHWB appointees. They still lean conservative to moderate.

[Janet]

Bobby Jindal may not have played well on TV

I know a candidate needs some flash to get elected, but after this American Idol empty suit we have now, it would be refreshing to have a no nonsense workaholic. A nose to the grindstone strong leader that doesn't give a rat's ass what the MSM says.

[Danube of Thought]

Judge Martin Feldman. Clerked for John Minor Wisdom. Appointed by Ronaldus Maximus.

Not your father's Marty Feldman.

[Danube of Thought]

Here's a little more info:

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium, arguing it was arbitrarily imposed.

Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He said it seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

"An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country," Feldman wrote.

[centralcal]

Damn! You knew, DoT, that a judge with the fine name of Feldman, would have some common sense, didn't ya?

[Danube of Thought]

Statement from Gates:

"I read with concern the profile piece on Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the upcoming edition of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine. I believe that Gen. McChrystal made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment in this case. We are fighting a war against al Qaeda and its extremist allies, who directly threaten the United States, Afghanistan, and our friends and allies around the world. Going forward, we must pursue this mission with a unity of purpose. Our troops and coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our security, and our singular focus must be on supporting them and succeeding in Afghanistan without such distractions. Gen. McChrystal has apologized to me and is similarly reaching out to others named in this article to apologize to them as well. I have recalled Gen. McChrystal to Washington to discuss this in person."

[Sue]

Owen and Clement were possible SC nominees for GWB. At least, they were named as possible nominees. Owen was threatened with a filibuster if Bush nominated her.

[narciso]

Here's Feldman's full profile:

[centralcal]

Sue, I remember both of their names as potential nominees. Thanks for providing info on the judges on the 5th circuit.

[Extraneus]

This should play out rather well, politically.

[Jane]

OT from the Blago Blog:

On another tape just played by prosecutors, Rod Blagojevich is heard talking to John Harris over the phone on Nov. 3, 2008 -- the day before the election.

They are discussing how Barack Obama is sending two representatives -- union leaders Tom Balanoff and Andy Stern -- to visit to talk about Valerie Jarrett.

"Do they think I would just appoint Valerie Jarrett for nothing?" Blagojevich is heard saying of the Obama camp. "Just to make it happen?"

[Sue]

C-cal,

We've argued 2 cases in front of 5th. There's a saying in Texas, among lawyers. A conservative 5th is not good for upholding large verdicts. Which we found out both times.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Liberal/Conservative/Moderate might not be too helpful an analytical framework for figuring out how this kind of case will end up.

This case tests the extent of the power of the Federal Gov --sort of like the Youngstown Steel case when Truman took over the steel industry.

Some "conservatives" (e.g. Alito and to some extent, Roberts) believe in strong central government in times of multi-state crises; some "liberals" (Breyer and Stevens, for example) are also for that general principle. It's tough to predict which side will prevail in the Fifth Cir or SCOTUS. I guess that's why you have lawsuits. More grist for the barristers' mill.

YMMV.

[matt]

Reading the Rolling Stone piece, it is obvious to me that the reporter is simply pushing their agenda and using the typical language military people banter with as his cues. Soldiers tend to have raucous, irreverent senses of humor, and the report is making the mistake of taking it completely out of context.

The reporter states that the President immediately set about to refocus the war effort in Afghanistan. It actually took him 6 months to have the first meetings. McKiernan was fired for asking for the same 40,000 troops Mcchrystal wanted.Obama canned him, hired McChrystal and went back out to play golf. Lie #1.

Lie #2. McChrystal is going rogue on the ops plan. The COIN manual had just been published as the new doctrine for the military to fight insurgencies. This was written by Petraeus and blessed by the JCS. It expands upon exactly the role of the Green Berets in Vietnam, but reverses many of the roles. Line troops as COIN operators; SF as shooters. It worked in Iraq. McChrystal is simply operating according to the book.

#3. McChrystal went rogue in releasing the request for more troops. Partially true, but the request had sat on Gates' desk for 6 weeks after the urgent request was made. The president then proceeded to dither for 3 months as Biden and the other armchair generals tried to hijack the strategic plan.

Lie #4. There are a large number of areas in Afghanistan where it is relatively peaceful. Look at the casualty map. The vast majority are centered in Pashtunistan (Kandahar & environs). In 9 years of fighting, we have lost 1,000 personnel. The Rolling Stone writer would have you believe we're at Dien Bien Phu again.

Lie #5 - The McChrystal - Karzai relationship. The reporter attempts to play this as abnormal, but in reality is it similar to the relationship Petraeus (and Crocker) had with Iraqi president Maliki.Eikenberry doesn't seem to have that relationship.

Lastly, the reporter has a point about the ROE's. One of the primary issues I have heard is that Brigade and Battalion commanders have a real fear of screwing up now and have overcompensated. Every incident is examined like CSI, and instead of, as the general might say, just saying "Shit happens. Don't let it happen again" now commanders are very uptight. That is the perception that McChrystal alone must correct with senior leadership.

So on a scale of 1-10, the article is about a 3. But it will sell lots of magazines and it advances the narrative of the left.

[Sue]

Jim,

True. But it also helps that they are not anti-business. And one practiced maritime law in real life. Another comes from Baker Botts and Thompson Knight. Helps to know they don't view businesses as the enemy.

[Ranger]

They are discussing how Barack Obama is sending two representatives -- union leaders Tom Balanoff and Andy Stern -- to visit to talk about Valerie Jarrett.

Hmmmm... Didn't Obama say that he never made any effort to impact the decision?

Did Obama say that to the FBI when they asked him about it?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Another principle on which liberal and conservative judges often agree is that governments (state, local or federal) are entitled to be obeyed even if they are wrong. Witness Kelo and cases like it.

I hope that is not the result in this case because, typically, His Travesty's overreaching is particularly partisan and unreasonable.

[Sue]

Jim,

Didn't Kelo split with conservatives against and liberals for? With dingbat being the swing vote? And who the hell knows if he is liberal or conservative. He seems to wake up in a new world each day.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

McChrystal Is a damn fool for giving any time to Rolling Stone -- well known for not being one of the military's staunchest supporters. If he said such a thing in such a venue about Petraeus, can anyone doubt he'd be out on his ear? He would be wise to retire to spend more time to his family. Bottom line: McChrystal is no George Patton.

Second, imagine being a Colonel on McC's staff who strongly disagrees with McC's decisions? This incident serves as a carte blanche for that Colonel to go public -- in Playboy for example -- with how foolish his General is.

[Danube of Thought]

Is Clarice going to to say "no relation," or will she claim him as Cousin Martin?

[Danube of Thought]

Unexpected (from MSNBC):

"May Home Hales Unexpectedly Fall 2.2 Percent"

[narciso]

We have seenin the past, how White House aides had badmouthed 'Stan' to willing
reporters, the Holbrooke plot to depose Karzai, the 'burning of Karzai's brother, despite having apparently been a CIA asset,
the apparent attempted disclosure of the Pentagon's inteliigence network, those have
all been coordinated strikes against the war effort, this is a modified response back

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Sue:

Kelo was 5/4 with Stephens, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer voting in favor. Against: O'Conner, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas. Rehnquist and O"Conner were replaced by Alito and Roberts who are arguably less willing than the fomer justices to question governmental intrusion and mistakes.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Narciso is right, but McC played into the jerk's hands. Bad judgment for a military man at his level. A self-inflicted wound say I.

[jimmyk]

My concern about the moratorium and Judge Feldman's ruling has to do with the rule of law. Either the Federal government has the authority to do this or it doesn't, but Feldman's argument seems to be just that it's a bad thing (or at least not justifiable). I'd rather see a decision based on the rule of law, i.e. the President exceeded his constitutional authority or he didn't. Or is there a law that says the president can do whatever he wants if it's justified based on cost-benefit?

[fdcol63]

Perhaps McChrystal is enough of a dedicated soldier and leader who is so worried that the effort in Afghanistan is going to fail under the status quo that he is willing to suffer this "self-inflicted wound" to draw attention to Obama's mishandling of the war so that it can be salvaged ... someway, somehow.

[Ranger]

I think it is based on the rule of law, that rule being that the government can only take such an action when there is a clear justification for it. The government can't just shut down economic activity because it wants to. The government has to show that there is a clear public interest in halting that activity. It appears the judge is simply saying that the government hasn't achived that level of justification.

I don't think the government could shut down all coal mining after one accident unless they could show that somehow the accident fundimentally changed our understanding of coal mining safty and we needed six months to figure out how the accident happened and come up with new safty regulations to deal with it.

[Sue]

I haven't read the ruling yet but Rush made it sound like he based his decision on the government using junk science in their argument.

[daddy]

"he based his decision on the government using junk science in their argument."

It’s worth keeping in mind that:

1) Salazar is Secretary of the Interior.

2) Salazar and Obama intentionally misunderstood/misconstrued/lied about what the 7 Scientists told them about the BP Oil Spill.

3) The Escrow Accounts Bill which Begich introduced yesterday, placed sole authority for determining the potential damage and amount of money demanded of Oil Companies into these mandated Escrow accounts, in the hands of The Secretary Of The Interior, Ken Salazar.

[Ranger]

Well, I think the fact that the government's own pannel of experts specificly did not ask for a moritorium is a significant issue.

Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He said it seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

We don't ground every aircraft of a particular make simply because one crashes unless their is clear indication that the crash was actually caused by a design fault in the aircraft.

[jimmyk]

the government can only take such an action when there is a clear justification for it

I guess my question is what the scope of actions is that the government can take. Maybe because this was in the Gulf and affected many states, there's some basis for the Feds intervening, but I don't like to take it for granted that the government can exercise dictatorial powers whenever there's a "clear justification." Call me old-fashioned. This was undoubtedly the premise for the $20B shakedown, the screwing over of the GM bondholders, the use of taxpayer money to bail out AIG, and so on and so on.

[Ranger]

jimmyk,

This is the fundimental problem with a regime like the one we have now, that is very willing to politicise what should be basic public safty issues. At least we still have some judges in the country that will stand up to it.

[Tom R]

I wonder how much of the $20 billion BP was forced to set aside for the victims of the disaster will 1) end up in the hands of the trial lawyers suing BP 2) indirectly end up in the campaign coffers of Democrat politicians that the trial lawyers donate to in order to kill off tort reform?

[Ranger]

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/101636/>Instapundit has a good post up:

JIM TREACHER EMAILS:

Question 1: Which is longer, that Rolling Stone piece or the Arizona immigration law?

Question 2: Which one has Obama actually read?

[Dave (in MA)]

Danube of Thought | June 22, 2010 at 03:13 PM Unexpected (from MSNBC):

"May Home [S]ales Unexpectedly Fall 2.2 Percent"

This AM a Boston Globe headline was trumpeting an increase in Mass. home sales during May, but when you read the article you find out that it was driven by buyers scrambling to benefit from a first time home buyer tax credit that disappeared at the end of the month.

[Parking Lot]

((But it will sell lots of magazines and it advances the narrative of the left.))

Giving that particular publication so much access shows poor judgment on McChrystal's part, no?

[Tom R]

The reports I have read state Hastings was a freelance journalist who had been embedded in Afghanistan for 2 years. That could indicate he was not an employee of Rolling Stone but just sold them the story.

[Ann]

Stephen Hayes retweet:

Time's Joe Klein (McChrystal fan) reporting McChrystal has submitted resignation. Up to Obama to accept it.

[centralcal]

Well, Drudge is having just too much fun today - have you seen his Lord of the Flies? or his link to the Blago trial saying Obama was pushing for a "black" Senator.

[centralcal]

Oooohhhh, Ann - the plot thickens!

[Appalled]

I think it is time to post a discovery of great import to the members of the JM community. The poster known as Ranger is really distinguished Judge Martin L. C. Feldman. Let's compare Ranger's description of the injunction with the actual decision:

Ranger: Well, I think the fact that the government's own pannel of experts specificly did not ask for a moritorium is a significant issue.

Court: while the government makes light of the fact that several of the experts disagree with the recommendations in the Report by noting that they do not disagree with the findings, of greater concern is the
misleading text in the Executive Summary that seems to assert that all the experts agree with the Secretary’s recommendation. The government’s hair-splitting explanation abuses reason, common sense, and the text at issue.

Ranger: We don't ground every aircraft of a particular make simply because one crashes unless their is clear indication that the crash was actually caused by a design fault in the aircraft.

Court: If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavyhanded, and rather overbearing.

By the way, I have LUNed the actual decision, which is fairly easy to read. (Certainly easier than the healthcare bill)

[centralcal]

Looks like Drudge is just behind Ann in the McChrystal resignation news.

[Dave (in MA)]

I sure would like to read Michael Yon's take on this.

[Dave (in MA)]

If true, Ann has scooped the entire Google News aggregation.

[Ann]

cc:

I gotta a good one for Clarice's Pieces:

Joy Behar must pray a lot, because she is never thinking

[Dave (in MA)]

If true, Ann has scooped both Google News and Yahoo News (wire.ap.org).

[Ann]

Dave (in MA):

Nah, I just follow this cute guy on Twitter:

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for an article containing the text of Judge Feldman's decision. Judge Feldman is careful to go through all the steps that a principled judge must go through to find an agency action invalid and to grant a preliminary injunction. The deceptive manner in which the executive summary of the Interior Secretary's report was drafted, a manner that suggested that the recommendation on the moratorium had been peer reviewed when in fact it hadn't, could not be due to negligence, in my judgment, but to a willful intent on the part of the Feds to deceive (I doubt this was done at the Interior Dept. level; I suspect the White House had input on this). Basically, the experts agreed with safety recommendations of the report and also on a moratorium far more limited than the one recommended by the Interior Secretary. But decide for yourself whether you agree with my conclusion that the executive summary is sleazy.

[glasater]

According to Yon's FB page:

Foreign Policy: Goodbye McChrystal, Hello Mattis?

[cathyf]

Is Clarice going to to say "no relation," or will she claim him as Cousin Martin?

Hmmm... If he's not Clarice's in-law, does that make him an out-law?

[centralcal]

Where is Clarice? Baking more bread?

[Parking Lot]

((Well, Drudge is having just too much fun today))

not to mention his "Van der slut" headline

[Ann]

A Fly in the Ointment (I'll be nice)

[Clarice]

Martin's no relation.

[peter]

Interesting headline at Drudge about the Lord of the Flies. I seem to remember from the eighth grade when I read Goldman's novel was that the title was a reference to Beelzebub.

[jimmyk]

Having read the decision now, I can see the basis both for the Feds' authority to issue the moratorium and the judge's basis for the injunction. A nice textbook example of checks and balances. Too bad we haven't seen more of this with the rest of this administration's overreaching.

[Captain Hate]

Ouch; I'll extend some honest sympathy to the jugeared **** because that could happen to anybody, I guess. By that I mean the horrible knot on his tie, of course...

I'd advise everybody to skip tonight's talking head news where everybody will be comparing McChrystal to MacArthur; which is a pretty strained one.

[mockmook]

Well, I guess it is good that McChrystal is gone (per rumors).

He should resign just for saying that he voted for Obama--makes him look like a partisan.

Of course Obama should fire him for showing that he is a general of such poor judgement (by voting for Obama).

[Dave (in MA)]

http://img1.jurko.net/avatar_3536.gif>

Ann, if only I had the software to create an animated Gif.

[Barbara]

Ann,

Obama reminds me of that character in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" who had tethered flies buzzing around his head. He was a bit of a nutcase, too.

[Janet]

OT - LUN is a pretty good site of different businesses in Arizona. Just to keep supporting them.
spazdogcomics.com looks interesting.

[Ranger]

Just because he has offered to resign, he may stay. This is the way the system works. Its up to Obama to accept or decline.

The real problem that this article exposes is not McChrystal himself, but the situation within the leadership in theater. It sounds like they have lost confidence in the leaderhip in DC. In that case, we may be on the way to the point we were at during the last few months of the US ground involvement in Vietnam, when local commanders simply refused to send their troops out on missions they saw as a useless risk to their soldiers' lives.

Obama needs to take strong action to regain the confidence of the commanders on the ground, or he really is in very deep trouble.

[Sue]

TIME is walking back it's scoop that McChrystal resigned. Only offered to resign.

[Janet]

Here are the businesses with online shopping.

[MarkO]

Obama needs him sooooo much. I look for one of those university type non-decisions, where McChrystal stays on for the good of the order, while Obama stews for a few months about how to replace him. Obama lacks all the necessary skills and dispositions to be a Commander, much less one in Chief.

Wagers?

[Sue]

For some reason, I think Obama will fire him. It's personal.

[Jim Miller]

"Hard to blame Bush for that." (Firing McKiernan and picking McChrystal.)

OTOH, if there is anything Obama is good at, it's blaming Bush. (Speaker Pelosi is good at that, too.)

I'll admit that I don't see how Obama can blame Bush, but I expect Obama, or some of his acolytes, to try.

[Ranger]

I wager Obama shoots a few holes of golf this week to recharge so he can make the right decision.

[Mustang0302]

The Lord of the Flies was a second-place fighter pilot, not a community organizer, although both end up drawing flies.

[centralcal]

I am torn, Sue. On the one hand, Obama is extremely thin skinned and will not tolerate any criticism, so I would normally vote for firing and/or accepting resignation.

On the other hand, Obama has had a really bad couple of weeks and, being lazy, may not want to have to work up the energy necessary to replace McC or others.

[Sarah's gonna have to do it.]

He'll fire him and blame him for the loss of Afghanistan. Our press will comply.
==============

[Watch him show up and taunt Obama next year after withdrawal.]

Hey lefties. Let's keep our eye on the ball. Get Osama.
========================

[narciso]

I saw somewhere, in Foreign Policy, that Gen. Mattis is under consideration, to replace him

[Stephanie]

Mark Levin on why McChrystal did the interview - because the WH had been leaking to leave a steaming pile on the military... not very CIC.

LUN

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

The Gulf opinion was heard on a preliminary injunction. As in any action in equity, the trial court has broad discretion, and is given a wide latitude by appellate courts. It looks to me that this is what Feldman did, and, I believe, did it well. He was applying the rule of law as he, in his discretion, was bound to do.

In order to grant an injunction, the court must be satisfied the petitioner has a "reasonable probability of success on the merits". Judge Feldman found that petitioners had a reasonable probability of proving the ban of all deep sea drilling was an irrational, arbitrary and capricious governmental decision and therefore invalid.

This type of decision is made by USD Court judges every day, and is unexceptional.

[They must have known it couldn't be done in a year and a half. What a stupid bully.]

Stephanie's link shows who lost Afghanistan; it is Obama.
=================

[Stephanie]

Drudge is reporting "developing" that Jeb is about to come out swinging...

hope he hits as well as Florida State and not Florida.

[Extraneus]

"Obama used the Gulf oil spill as a pretext to illegally put an end offshore oil drilling, consistent with his strategy to 'never let a crisis go to waste.'"

What's so hard about that, Republicans?

[Jane says obamasucks]

I'm with Mark O. I think O must be plotting and plotting and coming up empty. He is clueless about Afghanistan, and given the week he has had probably can't get away with surrender this week. I think he needs McChrystal a lot more than in reverse. Now how to placate his ego? He will have to give a campaign speech to tell us how McChrystal is an immature little boy and thank goodness he is the strong yet forgiving president and will give him another chance. However, if he screws up again, the loss of Afghanistan is on McChrystal's head.

[Stephanie]

Campaign 101

Obama used as a pretext to , consistent with his strategy to 'never let a crisis go to waste.'

Works on a variety of issues and reinforces the meme that Obama is a lying,underhanded, phony and that all of this is orchestrated to achieve an end that is not "American."

Pretext is one of those words that has so much... nuance. Snerk.

[Stephanie]

hmmm. teh HTML left out all of my "fill in the blanks."

Obama used *fill in the blank* as a pretext to *fill in the blank* consistent with his strategy to 'never let a crisis go to waste.'

Unlike remorseful voters I can have a do over that corrects my error!

[Turn, turn, turn.]

Heh, maybe MacCrystal has seen the paperwork for the Pakistani visa issued to Obama almost 30 years ago.

Tim Adams contention that there is no long form birth certificate for Obama in Hawaii has been unanswered.
===============