Back In Cairo - Despite Three Geniuses...

Despite the tireless efforts of three geniuses, Obama Clinton and Kerry have experienced "failure" in Egypt, per the NY Times Dead Tree Sunday headline:

How A U.S. Push To Defuse Egypt Ended In Failure

Online, failure was not an option - the current headline at the Times website is

How American Hopes for a Deal in Egypt Were Undercut

The URL header gives a third choice: pressure-by-us-failed-to-sway-egypts-leaders

Ross Douthat says it is time for us to go:

Now, though, the calculus has to change. Egypt is rolling back into authoritarianism along a track that’s soaked in blood. The cycle of crackdown-radicalization, crackdown-radicalization is likely to get worse, the cost of being intimately tied to the military regime is getting higher, and the window for demonstrating that America’s favor really is conditional is closing fast.

Right now, the Obama administration is trapped by its client state the way that great-power patrons often are. Because our aid to Egypt is our most obvious leverage over its military, and because we can really only pull that lever once, Washington is afraid to follow through and do it.

But leverage can be lost through inaction as well. If we can’t cut the Egyptian military off amid this blood bath, we’re basically proving that we never, ever will.

Far better to act like the superpower we are, and make an end. It’s time, and past time, to let this client go.

Just to belabor the obvious - if President Bush were backing this sort of murderous crackdown in 2007, Candidate Obama would be railing against it.

Charles Kupchan, "a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University" writes in the Times that the US should slow the dash to democracy:

Rather than cajoling Cairo to hold elections and threatening to suspend aid if it does not, Washington should press the current leadership to adhere to clear standards of responsible governance, including ending the violence and political repression, restoring the basic functions of the state, facilitating economic recovery, countering militant extremists and keeping the peace with Israel. At this fragile moment in Egypt’s political awakening, the performance of its government will be a more important determinant of its legitimacy and durability than whether it won an election.

More generally, Washington should back off from its zealous promotion of democracy in Egypt and the broader Middle East for three main reasons.

His three reasons are that, although democracy may provide stability in the long run it often leads to instability during the transition; that the entrenched power of politcal Islam creates special problems in the Middle East; and that the promotion of democracy puts us at odds with certain key allies, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf sheikdoms.

Comments

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

Stephens doesn't offer much of a rationale as to why al Sisi should entertain a bid from MB supporting President Weak Horse when the Gazprom/KSA bloc is offering Russian wheat paid for with good Saudi coin.

The US "military aid" has always been directed to US defense contractors, Egypt loses very little from its withdrawal. I'd rather see some pieces asking why Mrs. "Flash" Weiner didn't provide more warning to Secretary Clinton, given that her ties to the MB are at least as tight as the President's brothers.

[Some Guy]

According to an article at NRO by Robert Costa (with excerpts littering Twitter this AM), the GOP "establishment," the power brokers, the money men, the important people who decide these things (Steve effing Schmidt), are all rallying around Chris Christie.

I find that impossible to believe.

Christie’s ham-fisted cockup of giving Obama cover last October was the beginning of the end of his career.

If true this is the definition of ‘a fool and his money’.

[James D.]

JiB, you're probably right. I wouldn't put any money or bragging rights on betting Christie will be the nominee or even in the running come the winter of 2015.

He just makes me very angry - and the attempts by our "Top Men" to anoint him (and to cite him as the exmaple of an ideal Republican who can "get things done" and "reach out to the Democrats" etc.) doubly so.

[narciso]

The only way this could turn out stupider would be if Cameron and Hollande could cobble together a military expedition, ala Suez, alas they can't

[Ignatz]

Ben Stein says he's not afraid of the NSA because he and his wife have nothing to hide.

I realize we aren't the USSR yet, but what did Solzhenitsyn and Shcharansky have to hide?
When the state refuses to be mastered by the people, which ours shows more and more tendency toward, the people had better be afraid of it, because just existing can be something to hide.

[Extraneus]

From the Costa piece about Christie, a quote from Steve Schmidt, "a veteran Republican operative who managed the McCain-Palin presidential campaign":

“He’s now looking at a decisive reelection victory this year in a blue state, and then he becomes chairman of the Republican Governors Association next year, which will enable him to build all of his relationships to an even greater extent than he has done already. There will always be commentary about [the Sandy controversy, during which Christie snubbed Romney while embracing Obama at the 2012 campaign's 11th hour], but I don’t think a photograph from five years ago will be an issue in a primary that’s driven, as almost all Republican primaries have been, by electability over ideology.”

And there you have it, a clear statement of true Republican values.

[Jane]

I like how Christie stood up to the teachers.

he's not my choice for pres but I'm not sure slandering him is any smarter than slandering Romney was.

[Threadkiller]

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2013/08/18/why-we-need-a-third-political-party/#comments

[Extraneus]

“I’m in this business to win,” Christie told the RNC attendees, to approving cheers. “For our ideas to matter, we have to win, because if we don’t win, we don’t govern, and if we don’t govern, all we do is shout into the wind.” It wasn’t an ideological overture but a pugnacious and pragmatic message directed to a group that’s tired of losing. And they loved it, and Christie, too, since he increasingly looks like the only center-right governor and national star looking hard at a 2016 campaign.

[narciso]

Good question, Ignatz, here is the first answer;

while serving in in East Prussia, Solzhenitsyn was arrested for writing derogatory comments in private letters to a friend, Nikolai Vitkevich,[10] about the conduct of the war by Joseph Stalin, whom he called "Khozyain" ("the proprietor"), and "Balabos", (Yiddish rendering of Hebrew baal ha-bayiθ for "master of the house").[11] He was accused of anti-Soviet propaganda under Article 58 paragraph 10 of the Soviet criminal code, and of "founding a hostile organization" under paragraph 11.[12] Solzhenitsyn was taken to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, where he was interrogated. On 7 July 1945, he was sentenced in his absence by Special Council of the NKVD to an eight-year term in a labor camp. This was the normal sentence for most crimes under Article 58 at the time.[13]

[NJJans]

Extraneous
Again, if you want to hear a candidate stating principles and trashing focus group principles, listen to Lonigan link. His delivery isn't Reagan like, but he is laying it on the line in a blue state.

[DrJ]

Hear there is major fire burning there.

Not to co-opt GL, but we have a major one pretty close to us -- the American fire, which has now reached almost 15,000 acres. It has been very smoky/hazy, particularly in the mornings. It makes all the pollution control on cars seem silly.

No, I'm in no danger, but it is fire season and there's yet a long way to go.

[Some Guy]

I don’t think a photograph from five years ago will be an issue in a primary that’s driven, as almost all Republican primaries have been, by electability over ideology.”

A. It wasn’t just a photograph
B. His ‘instincts’ last October are precisely about electability.

Christie is either incredibly stupid, or he intentionally inflicted four more years of destruction on the entire country solely for his own political gain. Either is totally unforgivable. Period.

[narciso]

As for the second, now mind you he wasn't in any position to receive classified information;

In 1977 Sharansky was arrested on charges of spying for the DIA and treason and sentenced to 13 years of forced labor in Perm 35, a Siberian labor camp (Gulag). Sharansky appeared in a March 1990 edition of National Geographic magazine. The article, "Last Days of the Gulag" by Mike Edwards, profiles through photographs and text one of the few remaining Soviet prison labor camps (known as the Gulag). The article featured a photo of Sharansky and his wife Avital in their home in Israel viewing photos of the same Gulag where Sharansky had been imprisoned, but as it appeared in 1990.

[NJJans]

Jane
I do agree re Christie standing up to teachers. He tried to go even further with reigning in entitlements to them and other public employees, but the NJ state legislature is solidly democratic and he got as much as he could through. Same with property taxes. His proposals were much stronger than what was passed. He did what he could. Believe me, my teacher friends hate him. Just mention his name and they go into a frenzy. If Lonigan wins Senate seat, he'll will have frozen over.

[Marlene]

Another unfiltered comment from Gov. Lepage..."Obama hates white people." This comment was alleged to have been made at a private GOP fundraiser last week. Someone leaked it to the media,so someone at a private function of "supporters" is a snitch. I think Lepage says stuff to make certain people run to the fainting couches.
Lepage certainly isn't a racist,he raised a Jamaican teen who he considers a son.Lepage also sent the other 49 governors boxes of lobster yesterday.

[narciso]

A new word for squirrel:

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/08/20/christians-murdered-all-over-egypt-new-puppy-at-white-house

[NJJans]

That's HELL not he'll.

[centralcal]

What is the slander you are referring to, Jane? Just arrived at work and am trying to catch up on the thread.

[Porchlight]

According to an article at NRO by Robert Costa (with excerpts littering Twitter this AM), the GOP "establishment," the power brokers, the money men, the important people who decide these things (Steve effing Schmidt), are all rallying around Chris Christie.

Nonsense. There is no such thing as the GOP establishment, so it cannot be rallying around anyone.

DoT told me so. :)

[Gus]

Who is slandering Christie?
Words have meanings.
((slander n. oral defamation, in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another which untruth will harm the reputation of the person defamed.}}
Christie is NOT conservative. Why would you support him Jane?

[James D.]

Jane, I don't think it's slander.

His embrace of Zero last October was disgraceful. Yes, he had to look out for the people of his state and do whatever he could to help after Sandy. But slathering praise on the President for basically doing the bare minimum his job required (and showing concern for citizens in distress is a pretty low minimum to expect from a President) job was an embarrassment, and it unquestionably hurt the Romney campaign and helped Obama.

His recent fight with Rand Paul over the NSA and ominpresent, out of control federal government surveillance (citing 9/11, of course) was horrible, and frankly ought to disqualify him right there.

He may have some conservative views, but based on that, and on his gun-control actions, and his resume as a federal prosecutor, and the way he behaves towards - well, pretty much everyone except those whose favor he's seeking - it seems clear to me that Christie's view of the average citizen's place vs. the power of government (which seems to boil down to "shut up and do what you're told. I know what's best for you") is really not all that different than the general Dem position on that question.

[matt]

Above the fold in today's WSJ "Allies Thwart America in Egypt". It is about how the Saudis, Israel, and the U.A.E. have been working together as "the axis of reason" to support Al Sisi.

This really shows our government for the pack of fools they are. The real lineups in this three way cage fight are as follows:

1 - Qatar, Turkey, MB
2 - Iran, Syrian Gov't, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraq (70%)
3 - Egypt (80+%), Saudi, Israel, UAE,Jordan

Al Q'aeda is in the mix between Iran and the extremists.

This is a free for all and right now the Saudi/Israel interests coincide in wanting a stable and secular Egyptian government.

A new Egyptian constitution is being written outlawing religious parties. This is a very interesting concept.

It is interesting when Ben Stein, Mark Levin, and Nat Hentoff are all saying the same thing.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Yes, WE get to choose from a list of substandard candidates who don't even come close to being ideal. It's like wanting a Model T in something other than black. But keep being an apologist for the GOP; it's as tiresome as the birther spats.

[narciso]

For those he haven't eaten yet;

LEE DANIELS: Wow, that�s a powerful question. I think that people are angry that he�s president, and I think that they�re showing their true colors. And I think that, you know, when Danny Strong wrote those words, �Any black man could be killed by any white man and get away with it,� Trayvon Martin had not happened. I end the movie with hope. you know. He�s walking down, and Obama�s giving that famous speech, you know, and then I come out of my edit room and Trayvon Martin has happened. So, yeah, I think so. Sadly, I think so.

[Porchlight]

Agree with James D.

I like what Christie has done wrt teachers' unions. Other stuff bothers me quite a bit.

[Jane]

Gus,
Can you quote back where I said I support him? Or was that slander?

[centralcal]

From Reason/Hit & Run:

This is the way the GOP nomination process typically works: a gang of the party’s elites pick a candidate early on, then throw a lot of support his way. The candidate has to fend off a series of challengers preferred by various elements of the base. But since base support is split, the establishment candidate takes home the trophy.

So is Christie already set to win? Maybe not. With so long to go until the next campaign, it’s obviously a mistake to presume anything. And it’s not clear that party’s familiar patterns will hold. Yes, the establishment is picking its man early, and making it known, as usual. But the party’s establishment is having a harder time getting what it wants these days than in the past. Comprehensive immigration reform, a top priority for the party’s consultant and business class, is stalled in the House. The party’s upstart spending hawks seem to have a small edge on its old-guard defense hawks. There are a lot of ways in which the party’s establishment seems to be losing its grip.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

I've stated my opinion on Christie before; he's well placed where he is and should aspire to nothing higher.

[JIB]

Christie's "I am in this to win", sounds a lot like Rick Perry when he announced his candidacy. Now, I know he flubbed the debates and there all kinds of speculation as to why (bad back, pain relievers, lack of debating skills and exposure, etc.) but I liked him and would have voted for him in the Florida primary but ended up voting for Newt.

Its still too early.

[NJJans]

Porch light
That's where I am on Christie. Good stands on teachers and other public employee union and taxes, but not so good on other issues. Fine for NJ gov, not for President.

[Gus]

Jane, I never said you support Christie, I said, "why would you support Christie?"
You have quite a temper when someone challenges you to think. You amuse me.

[Danube of Thought]

Well, Porch, the power brokers, money men and people who decide these [?] things can't tell you or anyone else how to vote.

How far are you from the Brazos?

[narciso]

We want a Reagan, we can't even get a Nixon, who had no illusions about McGovern, and made the point 'perfectly clear, we have food and fuel prices out of control, we have huge swaths of the American economy being just axfixiated, we're a laughing stock in the world, what do these grandees have to say about it all,

[Ignatz]

Seems to me a lot of the premature 2016 talk on both the Dem and Rep side is due to the extraordinary vacuum this dolt of a president has left.

It is typical for a second term guy to not get much done, but this clown (is that now racist, per se?) has raised the art of absentee incompetence to new lows.
He has no agenda and appears to not even be around for the 3:00PM calls.

Nature abhors a vacuum and who would better fill any space than Christie Cream?

[narciso]

As for Kissinger, one can only really credit him with Chile, sort of an Al Assisi moment, the real politik of China, put us in the same fracking camp as the Khmer Rouge, he settled for the same deal that they told Thieu not to take four years earlier, even after the Christmas bombing, detente, what a joke, this was Reagan
was pointing out in '75, what West in her own
rather ezaggerated manner was indicating,

[NK]

Obummer does hate white people, except the ones who kowtow to him. Those he detests.

The end of the Blue Hell model -- Detroit school bonds pay 14 TIMES the going rate:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-20/michigan-offering-4-5-yield-on-school-notes-shows-detroit-stain.html

[Janet --- -... .- -- .- ... ..- -.-. -.- ...]

If he's the nominee, I won't vote for him. I'd rather have someone who at least admits they consider me an enemy, than someone who asks for my vote and begs for my money knowing full well he's going to sell me out the instant it's convenient.

Same for me, James D..

Christie has less cred, then Guiliani had,

Agree. I knew I didn't agree with all Giuliani's positions....but he didn't pretend. And he didn't need to tear down the Republicans who didn't agree with all his positions.
He is pro-abortion...but he didn't call pro-life people "woman haters" or any crap like that.
Christie practically campaigned for Obama. I would never vote for him.

[pagar]

Link at 10:06 AM
"
"DICK DURBIN: WORSE THAN STUPID,"

We'll never straighten things out until most Americans understand that the saying is true about anyone with a D next to their name denoting their political preference.

[centralcal]

Well, at least you made me smile Iggy. Say, didn't Christie have some procedure done this year - has there been any noticeable weight loss yet?

[JIB]

Lee Daniels has new inspiration for his movie other than Trayvon.

Heard this on the radio news this morning taking Frederick to school.

The reporter said they killed the guy because they were "bored". Frederick wanted to know how people could kill because they were bored? We talked about values, education, family and God. Probably all of those four attributes were missing in their lives.

Waiting for the Sharpton/Jackson Diplomatic Nexus to arrive in Australia at any moment.

They all look like Obama's sons.

[Gus]

all this slander about Christie. I have the vapors.
Again.

Why would you support Christie?

Once we get past all the slander and such, it's a pretty easy question. Even a lawyer could answer it.

[Porchlight]

Well, Porch, the power brokers, money men and people who decide these [?] things can't tell you or anyone else how to vote.

That is true, DoT, but they can and I think do influence which candidates end up on my ballot.

I'm about 80 miles from the Brazos as the crow flies. Now I have "Ain't No More Cane" in my head, which is a good thing.

[pagar]

Do not read this if you're drink any beverage.

The world's worst Bear story.

"A Russian scientist and a Czechoslovakian scientist had spent their
whole lives studying the majestic grizzly bear. Each year they petitioned
their respective governments to allow them to go to Yellowstone to study
these wondrous beasts. Finally, their request was granted and they
immediately flew to New York and then west to Yellowstone. They reported
to the local ranger station and were told that it was the grizzly mating
season and it was much too dangerous to go out and study the animals.
They pleaded that this was their only chance. Finally the ranger
relented. The Russian and the Czech were given cell phones and told to
report in each day.For several days they called in, and then nothing was
heard from the two scientists. The rangers mounted a search party and
found the scientists' camp completely ravaged. There was no sign of the
missing men.They then followed the trail of a male and a female bear.
They found the female and decided they must kill the animal to find out
if she had eaten the scientists, because they feared an international
incident.They killed the female and cut open the bear's stomach and,
sure enough,found the remains of the Russian.One ranger turned to the
other and said, "You know what this means, don't you?" "Of course," the
other ranger nodded. "The Czech is in the male."

[narciso]

Stupid, corrupt, take your pick;

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/20/3574358/veteran-gop-strategist-endorses.html

[Gus]

mercenary Narciso. No moral code.

[MarkO on laptop]

Those who dismiss the loss of their civil liberties because they "are doing nothing wrong," fail to appreciate how quickly that which was legal can become illegal.

It is a ploy usually taken by those who hope to impose such violations. Are we losing our country? Are we secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects? Why not?

[NK]

BOBCAT in suburban ct: Tom's going to need more than a field hockey stick when he goes out into the backyard. http://darien.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/3-bobcat-sightings-in-new-canaan-in-as-many-months

[Porchlight]

Christie has broken the 11th commandment numerous times and continues to do so, so those who bring that up every now and again to bemoan internecine bloodletting might take note.

[Danube of Thought]

I asked, Porch, because I'm reading a book called Goodby to a River, written in 1957 by a guy named John Graves, who died recently. It's his journal of a canoe trip he took down the Brazos after learning that a couple of dams were going to be built. As he travels he recounts the things that have happened at each place he passes, many of the events being Texans' encounters with the Comanches in the 19th century. It's all about the people, terrain and weather in that area, which I find intriguing.

[Janet --- -... .- -- .- ... ..- -.-. -.- ...]

If you need a break from politics....I saw a pretty good movie the other night - MUD.
The little boys in the movie are wonderful.
Seriously, they are my favorite movie characters in a long time.

[Jane]

Once again Gus, show me where I said I support Christie? In fact I said just the opposite. So why are you acting like a jerk?

It's a pretty easy question - even a moron could answer it.

[centralcal]

Michael Walsh (NRO) commenting on the Robert Costa piece (NRO) re: Christie, Establishment Choice:

Conservatives can be forgiven if they feel as trapped as Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, forever awakening to the same Sonny and Cher song, this time as performed by the likes of Steve Schmidt and Eric Fehrnstrom. The Republicans really have become the party of entrenched losers, forever peddling the same failed nostrums, with largely the same results.

“Electability”? You mean, as in John McCain and Mitt Romney, on the tried-and-disproven theory that the least offensive candidate, who most closely resembles a Democrat, is the one with the best chance against a party that, for worse instead of better, knows what it believes, understands its goals, and is ruthless in its pursuit of them?

[Porchlight]

Mark Pryor in big trouble:

"‘I think that President Obama has in some ways what you would think of as a hard-left agenda in various ways, and that agenda is not popular in our state,’ Pryor said, riding in the backseat of an aide’s pickup. ‘And a lot of that agenda I don’t support.’"

My emphasis because LOL.

Of course he voted for that agenda, but is begging Arkansas not to notice.

[Ignatz]

I was credited/blamed for helping to get this 2016 ball rolling here a week or so by criticizing Christie.
He's not my cup of tea but he is a social conservative for the most part and he is a fiscal conservative.

I have problems with him and am still not sure I could vote for him but he is far more conservative than, for instance, Giuliani ever was.

[marymary]

Was somebody excluding Christie or some other specific person whilst bemoaning internecine bloodletting? That does sound inconsistent.

[Porchlight]

That is a beloved book around here, DoT. Thank you for the rec - I haven't read it, but I would like to.

Another friend passed along a book about the Comanches, specifically the Cynthia Ann Parker story which partly inspired The Searchers. They were a bad bunch. I'm probably not supposed to say that.

Incidentally, the north-south streets in downtown Austin are named for the major Texas rivers, and they are arranged in the same order east to west as the rivers themselves (The east-west streets were originally named for trees before the names were changed to numbers.) Brazos is the closest of those to my office, and I park in the Brazos garage on campus.

[Dubya does Dallas]

I love Christie Creme. He's the gad-fly answer to TP emotives, fickle to a fault and addicted to the candidate dujour, who becomes cootie-like tomorrow.

[(A) nuther Bub]

I can't speak for Jane, Gus, but I would certainly vote for Christie if he were the Republican nominee against Hillary or any other liberal Democrat. I doubt he will be the nominee, but should that happen then he'll have my vote if I'm still clinging to this mortal coil.

Perhaps Jane, like me, reads today's posts and reacts with "Oh, Gawd. Romney redux. I can't handle this for three more years." Or perhaps not. She will speak for herself, I hope.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Maybe Reagan's quote "I didn't leave the democrat party; the party left me" needs to be updated.

[centralcal]

I will vote for Christie, as I did for McCain, and as I did for Romney. It amounts to a matter of vote R or vote D or don't vote.

But, by golly, I would like to see some improvements made to the whole selection process.

I think Scott Walker said it best (and I don't have the quote), but Republicans right now should be focused like lasers on keeping the House, growing the Senate in 2014. Then, if they have accomplished that they can start pushing for a POTUS candidate.

I haven't said anything bad about Christie, I am just depressed that he is the one being given the big push so damned soon. Too damned soon if you ask me.

[NK]

The Brazos/Comanches/Texas-- saw 'the Searchers' this past weekend. How did John Wayne NOT win best actor for that? He was extraordinary -- (OK he had a very ordinary WB contract cast around him, but still.) Wayne wasn't even nominated, Sir Alec G won for Bridge Over River Kwai. The Academy must have hated Wayne with a passion. the last moment of the Searchers is pitch perfect Americana-- the 'hard man', leaves alone quietly after saving 'civilization' from its cruel enemies.

[Some Guy]

Christie will not win the nomination. My biggest concern with him is that he will take a good candidate down with him, and given his track record – he will.

[Porchlight]

Yep, NK - great comment. I'm sure they hated Wayne as much for his politics as his success with the rubes.

[Dave (in MA)]

--
Barbara Rustad ‏@slothrecumbent 11m
@jimgeraghty Does the new puppy get his own Osprey?
Retweeted by jimgeraghty
--

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

It IS too soon and just turns politics into more of a reality show spectacle of low culture. I'm starting to think that smoke filled rooms are a lot better than mob action, especially if the smoke filled rooms are populated with people of integrity.

[Jane]

"Perhaps Jane, like me, reads today's posts and reacts with "Oh, Gawd. Romney redux. I can't handle this for three more years." Or perhaps not"

Exactly.

[glasater]

JIB-

The fires near The Dalles appear to be in a remote areawith Mt Hood looking on.

We've been getting some fab sunsets here with the smoke in the sky.

I think that fire may have been started by some of this stuff:

It was so great to finally get a fairly decent lightning pic.

[jimmyk]

the power brokers, money men and people who decide these [?] things can't tell you or anyone else how to vote.

To amplify on Porch's response: Do you think they have no influence on who tries to run? On fundraising? On the image of the Republican party and what (if anything) it stands for?

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Really, Jane? Was that somebody sockpuppeting you on how much your health insurance costs ballooned under RomneyCare?

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Nice lightning pic.

[polly]

Gus, Jane amuses me, too. She seems to have a thin skin. Not good for a lawyer which I think she is.

[glasater]

Thanks, Captain :-)

[jimmyk]

I'm not sure what's wrong with a healthy debate about the merits and demerits of likely candidates, though maybe it is about 16 months early. Those of us who criticized Romney prior to the nomination all rallied around him once he was the nominee.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Was the lightning shot a long exposure that just happened to catch a fortuitous bolt (the composition itself is pretty dramatic) or were they happening a lot in that spot?

[Ignatz]

--(OK he had a very ordinary WB contract cast around him, but still.)--

Ward Bond, Jeffrey Hunter, Harey Carey Jr, Vera Miles, Ken Curtis = very ordinary?
They weren't superstars but they all gave pitch perfect performances with Bond and Hunter also being Oscar worthy, in what I consider Ford's best, and therefore America's best movie.

[matt]

Bottom line is that if you want an even more rapid drive off the cliff, stay home. If you want to see it mitigated slightly, vote for the Republican and hold your nose. There are no innocent bystanders in this fight.

[centralcal]

I agree, jimmyk. We should be able to express ourselves freely about our feelings.

I am not sure "I will not vote for so and so" is ever very helpful, but if that is how a person feels, so be it.

Anyway, I wish all of us opinionated JOMers would do whatever we could to push back (via social media, comment threads, emails, etc.) about some of the processes that need changing.

Priebus, love him or hate him, seems to be trying to revamp the primary debate process - hopefully in a positive way.

I have problems with all the hoopla and the media frenzy for months on end in IOWA! The straw poll, the campaigns camping out there, etc. etc. Aren't we due for a "refresh" in that area too?

[(A) nuther Bub]

Jane amuses me too, but I say that in the best sense of "amuse." She's bright and humorous and in the forefront of those who make JOM a pleasant place to hang out. Too bad that can't be said about all of us. There's a higher level of discourse than LIBTARD and SHITCANNED and it would be lovely to maintain it.

[rse]

I love The Searchers and even Natalie gave a good performance.

Well I finally managed to type a post now that I can take the gauze off. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/targeting-each-students-beliefs-about-the-purpose-of-life-influences-every-perception-feeling-or-action/

[NK]

Ignatz-- compare the Searchers WB contract cast with Bridge Over Kwai, and it's no comparison as far as dramatic talent (or even the talent in a western such as Liberty Valance-- there were no Jimmy Stewarts or Lee Marvins in Searchers). That said, Ford got the cast he wanted and they were more than fine... however Wayne towered over everyone in the movie (maybe Ford wanted it that way.) What a Duke performance, what a directing job by Ford. Top 5 western, top 20 USA film ever IMO.

[Ignatz]

--Bottom line is that if you want an even more rapid drive off the cliff, stay home. If you want to see it mitigated slightly, vote for the Republican and hold your nose.--

How do you mitigate a drive off a cliff? The Acme anvil doesn't hit you after you stagger out of the crater you make when you hit?

[Appalled]

If Chris Christie had been the candidate in 2012, I think he would have pushed harder on Benghazi, and I think Candy Crowley would still be looking for her head, had she pulled the stunt she pulled on Romney.

Thing is, with Christie, you get somebody whose political style is to pick fights. I'm not sure the Tea Party is used to Republicans doing that to them -- though it might do them some good to see some of that. But when it comes right down to it, trashing the base was the Huntsman approach, and I don't see how copying him wins you anything in a GOP primary.

As for Christie sucking up to Obama in 2012. My guess is that he felt his duty to get his state repaired outweighed everything else. Might make for a good President -- but it does make for a bad partisan.

[polly]

Well, AB, what a takedown! I like Gus and tend to ignore the caps and bad words. He means well. And, also, Jane is lucky to "have you on her side." You are a good defender. And, she also will always have Clarice.

[NK]

Conn carroll with a correct review of the Left's atttacks on Cruz-- as I said, I think the daily Beast attack is just internal Lefty Narrative reinforcement-- no converting persuadables with this sort of tripe: http://washingtonexaminer.com/morning-examiner-another-failed-ted-cruz-hit-piece/article/2534471?custom_click=rss&utm_campaign=Weekly+Standard+Story+Box&utm_source=weeklystandard.com&utm_medium=referral

[NK]

I just read that aussie baseball shooting story. Speechless, what kind of monsters are we raising.

[Some Guy]

Clearly, "we" aren't raising them...

[NJJans]

JimmyK

I agree with your comments. It's fine to express ones thoughts about the various individuals who might be candidates. We all come to this blog with a different perspective and life experiences, each of us in our own way, share similar values and hopes for our country's future. That is why we have migrated to this blog (trolls excepted). Expressing differences of opinion on how to get there is fine and educational. For the most part this is done in a passionate but friendly manner. Ad hominems just cheapen the discussion.
I'm now off my soapbox. Let the passionate, friendly discussions continue.

[James D.]

Appalled, I'm not sure I agree with you about the Tea Party not being used to Republicans picking fights with them.

I think that Sarah Palin, not to mention quite a few tea party-backed candidates who won primaries only to see their Republican opponent stay in the race as a third candidate (or at the very least not support them in the general), might have some thoughts on that topic.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Christie sucking up to the JEF just confirmed every negative stereotype about him and his state. Kentucky and Nashville recovered from natural disasters which were under reported without their elected officials making spectacles out of themselves.

[Ignatz]

Bridge on the River Kwai had Holden and Guinness and a bunch of good support.
The Searchers had Wayne and Bond and a bunch of good support.

One of Ford's underrated talents was casting the perfect actors, no matter their status, for the precisely perfect role for them. It's hard to imagine a better pick for Hunter's or Ken Curtis's roles.
Besides it was a movie, at its heart, about one man's obsession, and the only other role with real heft was Hunter tagging along, equally obsessed for a seemingly different reason.
There was no need for, nor any role for, any other great star and IMO another one would have only mucked up the central story which was Wayne's battle with his antagonist which in the end we're not even sure was Scar, but more likely was Wayne himself.

If star power made great movies The Towering Inferno would be on everyone's top five lists.

[Manuel Transmission]

Glasater,
Send me an email when you get a chance. I've lost your addy.

[James D.]

Something I always thought was interesting about Bridge on the River Kwai, alongside David Lean's other two big epics Zhivago and Lawrence) - in all three films, after three hours and huge, epic events, the hero in all three films ends up dying face down in the dirt/mud.

[marymary]

I just looked up MUD on IMDB. It's Rated PG-13 for "some violence, sexual references, language, thematic elements and smoking"

Smoking???!!! ::SMH::

[Dublindave]

"What a Duke performance, what a directing job by Ford. Top 5 western, top 20 USA film ever IMO"

I've always wondered why Olivier was considered one of the greatest actors alive, apart from 'the entertainer' everyone of his performances were cold and calculated.

Look at what Wayne does with his arm in the last scene of the searchers...... he wasn't directed to do that, he came up with it. How the hell does someone encapsulate the entire spirit of a country in one tiny simple gesture?

Genius, that's how.

Him and Gary Cooper were two of the greatest actors in the world.

[Ignatz]

Ditto, WeeDavey.

[Ignatz]

Ditto what Another Bub said at 1:24.
Jane is a peach.

[Marlene]

NJJans...what kind of treatment does Christie receive from the NJ media? I think of Lepage as a gruff,off the cuff version of Christie.As noted above,Lepage isn't a slick politician and he has no filter. He's fighting the media and the Democrat legislature and he is becoming frustrated.

[Marlene]

Speaking of RINOs...Howie Carr's column says...beam yourself back to Massachusetts,Scottie. Referring to Scott Brown's national ambitions.

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

I don't think it's necessary for me to point out that even though I disagree with Jane, among others, from time to time I respect her a great deal.

But in case it was necessary there it is.