Obama - The Man Sans Plan

Obama admits that we don't have a plan for dealing with ISIS, and why should we? After all, it was only last January that the JV suited up. 

Fortunately is calm (and natty!) as he tries to simultaneously reassure the world that the US is not adrift while reassuring his base that he will do nothing.

Yesterday the Times reported on the daisy-petal plucking around the question of Congressional authorization for (in)action against ISIS in Syria. Obama didn't need authorization to lead from behind with his kinetic action in Libya, did need it to defend his red line in Syria, and didn't need it to support the Kurds in Iraq. So which way will the dial spin this time? Who knows? My guess is that with an election coming up Democrats won't want to be bullied into posing as tough guys and supporting an action they will later feel obliged to disavow, so any Congressional action will be deferred.

The Times notes an idea floating around that is so stupid that I expect the White House, or factions therein, are actually pushing it:

If the authorization is drafted narrowly enough — limiting military action to Iraq and Syria, ruling out any ground troops and placing a time limit on the operation — Mr. Obama could claim that it enshrines, rather than undercuts, his vision of a counterterrorism policy for the post-9/11 era.

That would mirror Obama's absurd 'Hokey-Pokey' surge in Afghanistan from which the Administration promptly distanced itself.

Now, as then, Obama is looking for a way to advance US objectives while sending a reassuring signal of weakness and vacillation to his base. Good luck.

Comments

[MarkO]

Your morning DOOM™®

Chauncey Gardiner.

[Sue]

Good luck is what we are going to need. We sure don't have leadership.

[GMax]

The WAPO! This probably hurt them more than it does Zero:

“Polls have increasingly shown that Americans view Obama as a weak commander in chief without much direction or heft t0 his foreign policy. . . . And as a series of overseas foreign policy crises have popped up in recent years, the White House has remained largely hands-off — a decision that rightly or wrongly feeds the narrative of it not having a real strategy. And it certainly didn’t help that the White House set a so-called ‘red line’ of the Syrian government using chemical weapons on its people, but didn’t actually do anything when it crossed the red line. And then Obama goes and says something like he did Thursday.”

Just to get the incompetent part out was painful, I am sure. They could have mentioned the liar part too, but baby steps, baby steps first.

[Threadkiller]

Saying there is no plan is part of the plan.

[GMax]

Maybe its really the first rule of fight club. You don't talk about fight club.

[BumperStickerist]

In honor of the Simpsons Marathon on FXX, this summation of Barack's strategy, courtesy of Kang the alien:

"The politics of failure have failed;
we need to make them work again."
_

[Danube on iPad]

UK raises threat level to Severe.

[narciso]

well you make the decision, I know:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/28/why-obama-backed-off-more-isis-strikes-his-own-team-couldn-t-agree-on-a-syria-strategy.html

Clapper and Shawn Turner made the determination , now I am reassured,

[Ignatz]

What he meant to say is we haven't developed a NEW strategy.
Our old strategy of pretending IS were ineffective AQ left-overs, failed, and we know our present interim strategy of pretending they're not really muslims but who need a bomb or two once in a while has a short shelf life so I've tasked my generals to come up with something equally doomed to failure but that looks better.

The old strategy did exist and was rather simple and plain to see; assume any insurgency against a long established regime would be better than what preceded it and support it, except in Syria or Iran or any other country where the leadership was an open and active enemy of the US or Israel.

[Threadkiller]

FBI national domestic threat assessment omits Islamist terrorism

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/29/fbi-national-domestic-threat-assessment-omits-islamist-terrorism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+(Internal+-+Politics+-+Text)

Part of the plan

[Sandy--Engorged Capital~Fallow Districts--Daze]

Wretchard:

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

FTA:
The president’s right: it’s not time to panic. The time to panic was about six months ago. It’s essentially too late to halt the dynamic of events now. Timing matters. Once the batter misses the ball it doesn’t matter how hard he subsequently swings. Someone should tell the president the time to bat is over and the janitor can’t keep the stadium lights on much longer. Shakespeare once wrote:

There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted…

No, no, no. Shakespeare’s too fancy for this. How about: maybe you’ve had the experience of some tough guy coming up and asking for something just to see if he can get away with it. You know if you give the thug what he wants, he’ll be back in about an hour for more. So you politely but firmly refuse because a little grief in the beginning is better than a lot of grief at the end. Because human predators like their animal counterparts never take on something that might injure them, because any ding, matter how small, reduces their ability to hunt. Predators have always gone for the weak and defenseless prey from the beginning of time.

[narciso]

well this might have been worthy of note;

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/28/found_the_islamic_state_terror_laptop_of_doom_bubonic_plague_weapons_of_mass_destruction_exclusive#_

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

THe WaPo are IDIOTS -

White House has remained largely hands-off — a decision that rightly or wrongly feeds the narrative of it not having a real strategy.

Good Lord...Obama admitted he didn't have a strategy!

President Obama ~ “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet.”

[Dave (in MA)]

T-Mag describes the strategy in his last paragraph, except I'm not sure about the advance US objectives part.

[NK]

Dave-- I guess TomM is in the DoT camp in believing Obummer wants to advance 'US Objectives' but is deluded in the means to do so.

[NK]

BTW -- what did Churchill say about the strategy regarding Nazism?

[narciso]

this Mohammed S, is a real life version of the fictional terrorist mastermind in that previous
Ignatius tale

[GMax]

Janet

Remember its readership are for the most part special snowflakes. They are used to everyone getting a trophy. It would really jar them severely if the WAPO told them straight out about their messiah being an incompetent and a liar. So the baby steps act. No matter, the cat done escapes the bag and has no interest in returning to a dark dusty confinement.

[Specter]

I keep wondering if all of this isn't O's actual strategy. Combine the JV threatening to come here and do away with us, and our open border policy and you get an easy pathway to "strikes" here at home. Should something like that happen - especially if it happens multiple times - it allows him to declare martial law and use that domestic "police force" he's been building to consolidate power. Moves us closer to One World...

Dang...getting old and paranoid I guess.

[Danube on iPad]

Core Al Qaeda still decimated.

[Ignatz]

You mean this, NK?

It is a fine broad stairway at the beginning, but after a bit the carpet ends. A little farther on there are only flagstones, and a little farther on still these break beneath your feet. Look back over the last five years. … historians a thousand years hence will still be baffled by the mystery of our affairs. They will never understand how it was that a victorious nation, with everything in hand, suffered themselves to be brought low, and to cast away all that they had gained by measureless sacrifice and absolute victory—gone with the wind!

[Top Spot]

You Northeasterners should take note of Bárðarbunga.

Keep this in mind. Order before the rush.

http://store.acmeapproved.com/israeli-adult-civilian-gas-mask-w-nato-filter.html?gclid=CPrimPmtoMACFSsSMwodjxgA6A

[Danube on iPad]

"Part of the plan"

Loretta Fuddy stood athwart the path to martial law, so she had to be rubbed out.

[Threadkiller]

Fuddy...

[NK]

Ignatz-- I was thinking more of this:

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Winston Churchill

[Sue]

I bet the person most wishing Obama would just shut up is Josh Earnest.

[NK]

Josh not so Earnest is a tool. What a dope.

[Dave (in MA)]

Bárðarbunga. Shorter than Eyjafjallajokull, but I still wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce it.

[Threadkiller]

Ernest is part of the plan.

[Danube on iPad]

I think, for starters, that these nincompoops are confused as between strategy and tactics.

Right now I am listening to the fool Earnest notifying ISIS that for the time being they can freely move about in the open.

[Dave (in MA)]

Get that guy's bust outta here.

[Sue]

I think Earnest is trying to spin the spin and is doing a poor job of it.

[Eric in Boise]

trying to spin the spin and is doing a poor job of it.

He doesn't understand the Importance of Being Earnest.

[Ignatz]

--I think, for starters, that these nincompoops are confused as between strategy and tactics.--

Exactly.
Barry's strategy may or may not (probably not) change as to fomenting unrest in the manner Jeanne Kirkpatrick recognized in the "blame America first" crowd while ignoring it within our enemies' borders.
And he may adjust his strategy regarding embarrassing effects of it like IS although his ignoring the side effects in Libya casts even that into doubt.
What he's really asking "his" generals to do is set out some tactics to engage IS with, if he decides his strategy will be to engage them seriously at all.

[Buckeye]

I don't think Zero intends to "advance US interests". He just needs a way to placate his critics for a couple of news cycles. Just more of his jive ass stuff.

[Top Spot]

Can you pronounce 'Laki'. It may be a gas-miser compared to Bárðarbunga..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

[George]

I, for one, am reassured by the President's determination to entertain all with his reprise of the Kevin Bacon "Remain calm, all is well" bit from Animal House.

[Threadkiller]

Are we supposed to believe that Obama and his press secretary have no idea that showing weakness and confusion is a bad thing?

[Extraneus]

Uh Oh: Mary Landrieu Doesn't Own a Home in Louisiana

This is…not what embattled "Louisiana" Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu wanted to read in the Washington Post -- which, as it turns out, is her hometown paper:

In Washington, Sen. Mary Landrieu lives in a stately, $2.5 million brick manse she and her husband built on Capitol Hill. Here in Louisiana, however, the Democrat does not have a home of her own. She is registered to vote at a large bungalow in New Orleans that her parents have lived in for many decades, according to a Washington Post review of Landrieu’s federal financial disclosures and local property and voting records. On a statement of candidacy Landrieu filed with the Federal Election Commission in January, she listed her Capitol Hill home as her address. But when qualifying for the ballot in Louisiana last week, she listed the family’s raised-basement home here on South Prieur Street. The New Orleans house, which Landrieu claims as her primary residence, is a new flash point in one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country. Republicans are considering taking legal action to question Landrieu’s residency in the state, arguing that since winning her seat in 1996 she has become a creature of Washington. For Landrieu, there are hazardous parallels to other recent cases in which residency questions have dogged incumbents. Former senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) lost reelection in 2012 after reports that he stayed in hotels when he returned to Indiana, while Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is drawing flack this year for not having a home of his own in Kansas and listing a donor’s house as his voting address.

[Danube on iPad]

A few days ago John Kerry said "ISIS must be and will be crushed." That would serve reasonably well as a strategy, i.e. it is distinct from isolating them, containing them, negotiating with them, and any other possibilities.

But no....

[sbw]

Strategy? What did that general I have little respect for say?

"First we're going to cut it off, and then we're going to kill it."

[Threadkiller]

Residency didn't stop Rahm* Emanuel from becoming mayor, Ext.

*pre-loaded in my spellchecker.

[Extraneus]

Romney didn't carry Chicago by 17 points, TK,

[Cecil Turner]

--I think, for starters, that these nincompoops are confused as between strategy and tactics.--

Totally. Besides that, they're piddling around the edges with feckless focus on minutiae. For example, their much ballyhooed airstrikes on Isis:

According to the releases to date (28 August 2014), US Central Command have conducted 106 air strikes across Iraq, with 70 in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam. The map below shows the areas of Isis influence in Iraq.

Take out the strikes around the Dam, and I personally called in more in three days than these guys are touting for the whole conflict. It's beyond ridiculous . . . a competent Lieutenant could plan and execute their whole effort . . . and handwringing over this "strategy" is tying our whole national security team in knots?

Simultaneously control two major regional conflicts? This lot couldn't organize a fundraiser and golf scramble at the same time . . . even after lots of practice at each.

[NK]

CecilT-- I like the cut of your jib young man!

You make an important point, not only are they wrong about every worldview they hold, they are frikkin' incompetent.

[Sue]

I wonder if future generations will know Obama like we know Nero? Instead of fiddling while Rome burned, Obama golfs as the world burns.

[Rick B]

Why isn't leaving Mahometan vermin control to Mahometans a strategy? If Arabs and Persians are at each others throats, why isn't polite applause for particularly effective killing strategies warranted? If Iraq can't effectively apply Sisi's vermin control methods, why not encourage them to hire Egyptians (if they aren't too busy in Libya)?

I can't figure out why I should be upset watching Unicorn Reality unravel while the President sits on his thumb and the EUnuchs whine about paying the Putingeld necessary to hold him at bay. Fantasyland has to collapse - why isn't now a good time for it to do so?

[Danube on iPad]

Actually, TK, they're secretly showing strength. Joe Scarborough explains, with an assist from Sun Tzu:

"According to Scarborough, speaking on today's Morning Joe, President Obama's 'no strategy' statement was 'straight out of The Art of War where when you were weak, you make your enemies think you were strong. When you were strong, you make your enemies think you were weak.' It's what Scarborough would have done, he told viewers, if he were president. When Sam Stein said that he couldn't tell if Joe was joking, Scarborough assured him: 'I'm serious. Dead serious . . . I am dead serious. I am not joking.'"

[Dave (in MA)]

Extraneus, Markey's been pulling that same crap his whole career. He finally bought his family's house from his father's estate a while back, but reportedly pays the minimum amounts to keep the utilities turned on.

[Another Bob]

Zero was given a target list that consisted of:
military assets
infrastructure
command and control nodes
financial capabilities
illicit pipelines used to export black market oil

He refused them all.

[Appalled]

Cecil:

I think these guys are good at fundraisers. They have had lots of practice.

All:

The question I have at this point, and wish I could get an honest answer to, is this -- directed to almost every Democratic office holder, is this:

Who do you think is more dangerous to the Republic -- Boehner and McConnell, or ISIS (ISIL, etc)?

In their hearts, I think they'd pick McConnell. Their actions sure reflect it. What they would say...well, it would be interesting...I'd love to see Harry Reid handle the question

[Ignatz]

Barry's Son Zoo approach is "when you are strong make yourself weak and let everyone know it."

Or, TR updated; speak grandiosely and carry a niblick.

Joe is dead serious though, I'll grant him that.

[Top Spot]

"In their hearts, I think they'd pick McConnell"

Probably. Ethnocentrism and narcissism compels most to focus on only local issues, as though we were islands unto ourselves.

That's why our Media ignores global issues that have context.

It has nothing to do with US.

[Porchlight]

TM:

Now, as then, Obama is looking for a way to pretend to advance US objectives while sending a reassuring signal of weakness and vacillation to his base. Good luck.

I added the bold.

[Threadkiller]

"tying our whole national security team in knots" is the plan.

Obama blasted just enough ISIS Toyota Hilux pickups to create the poke-the-sleeping-bear situation he desires.

Don't ever let it be said that I lack imagination.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_of_imagination

[Ignatz]

--Why isn't leaving Mahometan vermin control to Mahometans a strategy?--

It would be a perfectly adequate one if that is what we were doing.
But Barry actively assists or benignly neglects the radical vermin while undermining the friendly vermin; the result of which might be a very bad result for us.

Time for a mind game; let's imagine there had been no beheading of Foley and no humanitarian crisis involving the Yazidi trapped on a mountain or other nightmarish PR "optics" but that otherwise IS was rolling things up just as they are.
Would Barry have moved a finger?

[Threadkiller]

Scarborough...

[Exasperated]

Good luck is what we are going to need. We sure don't have leadership.

Posted by: Sue | August 29, 2014 at 10:47 AM

Our strengths come from us, not from our leaders.

Write your own destiny, or get left behind. Its up to you.

[Porchlight]

UK raises threat level to Severe.UK raises threat level to Severe.

I have a spidey sense here that if they truly are going to do something in London, it will be targeted toward the symbolic. Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's would be my first guesses. Bonus: Westminster Abbey is in the political heart of town, and St. Paul's is in the City (finance and media hubs).

[Porchlight]

"According to Scarborough, speaking on today's Morning Joe, President Obama's 'no strategy' statement was 'straight out of The Art of War where when you were weak, you make your enemies think you were strong. When you were strong, you make your enemies think you were weak.'

Rope a dope. I called it last night. (Not that it wasn't obvious.)

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2014/08/an-ongoing-golden-age-for-mice.html?cid=6a00d83451b2aa69e201b7c6d52cf8970b#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e201b7c6d52cf8970b

[Sue]

Exasperated,

I'll ask them to include your words of wisdom on your tombstone if you are one of the unlucky ones to be where the next 9/11 happens.

[Danube on iPad]

Shortly after Pearl Harbor FDR met with his service chiefs to formulate a strategy for fighting World War II. His decision: give precedence to the war in Europe, with the Pacific War a secondary interest. That's it.

No one else was in the room. (The NSC didn't exist.) The strategy was announced and implemented within a day. MacArthur and Nimitz decided on their two-pronged approach to Japan. The decision to go on D-Day was Ike's.

We won.

[Appalled]

Porchlight:

Suppose we assume the existence of Barack Obama, 3-dimensional chess player, who has every precept of Clausewitz and Machiavelli on his fingertips, and that this statement was some kind of existential head fake. It'd still be dumb. The goal of appearing weak in a war is to invite an attack, and then crush the opponent. The goal of the War on Terror (and it's back, like it or not) is to avoid attacks on Americans. If we take Scarborough at his word, Obama is inviting them.

I think we need some better flacks. This lot is too easy to refute.

[Threadkiller]

You forgot a possibility, Appalled.

Obama is inviting an attack with no intention of crushing the attackers.

He wants to hear that sweet sound of morning prayer again.

[Threadkiller]

BTW, I still have an unanswered question hanging out there.

What did Obama mean when he said he would be more flexible with Putin after his election?

Has anything happened in the last two years that sheds light on the answer?

[Appalled]

TK:

I can't reconcile that view of Obama to the preening fellow we see daily, and his delusions of Legacy. (Plus, wouldn't all those golf games get in the way of the Call to Prayer)?

[narciso]

that ridiculous notion in Mark 'Tiger Beat' Landler was looked upon favorably by Jack Goldsmith, the idiot at the OLC who left the interrogators in the lurch,

You never go full 'Kirk Lazarus' (that was Robert Downey Jr's character in 'Tropic Thunder') like Morning Joke does,

Karen Elliot House, can't figure why the Sauds won't go more thoroughly after the Islamic State

[Porchlight]

Appalled,

Agreed about looking weak. I lean toward TK's view of Obama's true intentions, but you have a point about the legacy.

Perhaps we should make a distinction between Obama's true intentions and those of his handlers. Even if Obama is idiotically and prematurely preening over his legacy, that doesn't mean ValJar really cares about it. After all, they have to keep him interested in the job somehow.

[Threadkiller]

Golf etiquette would prevail, Appalled.

[Threadkiller]

Pow!

Porch nails it.

[Jim Eagle]

Porch,

The UK is target rich: Buildings, surface transportation (7/7), government and financial institutions, Eurotunnel, etc. Whatever, it will be symbolic and it doesn't have to come from "the garden" as it is so easy to import it from France or the low countries.

911 doesn't meet the symbolism requirement for the UK but September 25 does - Rosh Hashana or they could wait until November 9th for Rememberance Day.

[daddy]

ENRAGED

Remember all those times in the past that the Press has had to go off on an 'Adjective-binge,' reporting that our passionless President is "Livid", "incensed", "angered" or "fuming", about something that Obama ought to be upset about, but since he isn't they've had to make up some dishonest descriptor to provide the emotion he ought to be displaying?

Well finally, via the Jerusalem Post, our US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, Martin Indyk, provides an adjective to the President that I believe is accurate. Here it is:

Speaking extensively on US relations with Jerusalem since the end of the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians last April, and throughout Operation Protective Edge, a candid Indyk said at times US President Barack Obama has become “enraged” at the Israeli government, both for its actions and for its treatment of his chief diplomat, US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Well Peter Wehner, linked via Powerline, noticed this "enraged" adjective, and makes this comment which I think is on the money about this honest Adjective:

Think about this for a moment. In a neighborhood featuring Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, just to name a few of the actors, President Obama was “enraged” at … Israel. That’s right, Israel–our stalwart ally, a lighthouse of liberty, lawfulness, and human rights in a region characterized by despotism, and a nation filled with people who long for peace and have done so much for so long to sacrifice for it (including repeatedly returning and offering to return its land in exchange for peace).

Yet Mr. Obama–a man renowned for his lack of strong feelings, his emotional equanimity, his disengagement and distance from events, who New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd refers to as “Spock” for his Vulcan-like detachment–is not just upset but “enraged” at Israel.

[Danube on iPad]

I believe he meant he would be freer to negotiate deals after the election. Do you think he meant he would be freer to roll over in Crimea and Ukraine?

[Sidwhite]

0bama has a well developed multiple level strategy and action plan. Strength to strength. First the enemy will be weakened by massive fundraising. Next he will golf them to submission before empty promising them to death (panels) No wait, that's his domestic strategy!

[Ignatz]

--The goal of the War on Terror (and it's back, like it or not) is to avoid attacks on Americans.-

I have no idea what Barry's particular goals are other than to look undermine US power and look cool doing it, so while the War on Terror goal is true for the non-Barry's of DC it is a largely unattainable one.
Worse, it in fact misunderstands the world in which we live, a misunderstanding W shared, although less naively.

Terrorism is a tactical proxy for the real war, which is Islam vs the rest of the world. It began in the 7th century and has run hot and cold since. It has been heating up since the Ayatollahs turned the slow cooker on in '79, though the cold war of creeping conversion and birthrates continues simultaneously, especially in the Sahel, Europe and central Asia.

The only question is, will the west wake up in time to the reality of the existential conflict it's in to prevent the Gates of Vienna from being unlocked from the inside when the Musslemen come knocking again?

[Eric in Boise]

He's not really enraged, daddy - he just wants them to think that. Because Sun Tzu. Um, or something.

Scarborough said so, and that's good enough for me, gosh darn it.

[Tom Maguire]

You don't talk about fight club.

With all these faux-hawks on the left who sleep with their base but pose for the rest of us, that is also the first rule of the no-fight club.

Obama's "Don't do stupid shit" policy has been scaled back to "Don't do shit".

I'd say that was our hard luck, but we (i.e., "we") elected and re-elected this flop.

[narciso]

that French proverb, about 'wicked animals' comes to mind, re Israel. it's interesting how Robert Lacey's "Inside the Kingdom, written about five years ago, really illuminates the thinking therein, and this applies to events in Syria,which is a proxy competition between it and the Emirate of Qatar, Lacey indicates that far from the perception put forth by Posner and Unger, the kingdom did not see W as a ally,

[narciso]

Likewise under Obama, the Kingdom sees Israel and Egypt as allies, but the Ummah within the kingdom including prominent tribal leaders see it the other way, hence the son of a Saudi General, can fall in Syria, and relatively little note is taken,

[Exasperated]

Danube @ 1:24 - Your point is academic, considering that the allied forces in the Pacific always received more than sufficient materials, men and unusual precedents to get a consistently good job done without any of the foul-ups that the Allies had in Europe. Even Japanese said that they would rather fight other Japanese, Germans, Russians and Italians than those clazy Amelicans.

[Threadkiller]

Do you think he meant he would be freer to roll over in Crimea and Ukraine?

Free to do anything.

If he was concerned about deals that could only be negotiated after the election I would assume the deals would have had a negative impact on his election chances.

[henry]

@2:07. You are making things up. My grandfather allocated material for the two theaters under Marshall (pre-war lend-lease until D-Day). The Pacific got enough to not lose while first pick went to Europe.

[daddy]

Chelsea Clinton earns some dishonesty from the Press as well as she quits her $600,000-a-year NBC gig.

Alex Wallace, senior vice president at NBC News, praised Clinton today and didn't rule out working with her in the future.

She told People: "Chelsea's storytelling inspired people across the country and showcased the real power we have as individuals to make a difference in our communities.

Perhaps thats what a "Tewwt" is, the equivalent of (excuse my French) a reporter giving a Blow Job to a male celebrity/politician, only in this case it's given to a female celebrity/politician.

[Danube on iPad]

These Christian patriarchs announce a strateg:

"'The international community must act and eradicate ISIL' (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), Eastern Orthodox and Catholic patriarchs said in a strongly-worded statement from Lebanon Wednesday. 'This is required from the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council,' the statement said. The patriarchs met in the Maronite Catholic patriarchate of Bkirki to discuss the plight of embattled Christians in the Middle East, who have been targeted for annihilation by ISIL. The meeting was attended by a number of Western diplomats and UN representatives."

[Danube on iPad]

"the allied forces in the Pacific always received more than sufficient materials, men and unusual precedents to get a consistently good job done without any of the foul-ups that the Allies had in Europe. "

You're nuts. Read about the Guadalcanal campaign, to take just one example.

[Captain Hate]

The Horde is on top of Scarblowhard:

9 Scarborough actually claims that announcing "We have no strategy" is a technique torn from the pages of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

I said *feign weakness* you insufferable ass!

Posted by: Sun Tzu at August 29, 2014 12:40 PM (PYAXX)

10 How do you solve a riddle like Joel Scarborough?

Well with Joe, you start with the body of that intern....

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2014 12:40 PM (iFlWD)

[Danube on iPad]

Maybe he meant that Republicans would put up less resistance after the election.

Alternatively, I guess he really is that smart after all. Beschloss must have been right; only a true genius could pull off all this sleight of hand while making people think he's simply incompetent. The sanctions against Russia are just a clever ruse. Now the Fuddy hit begins to make sense: these guys are good. Real good.

[narciso]

Why was there so little resistance to ISIS, not our side of the deal

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/05/saudi-arabia-defense-reshuffle-syria-policy-iran.html#

[daddy]

Wake me up when Obama comes up with a strategy to respect and abide by the Constitution.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

http://www.judicialwatch.org/bulletins/imminent-terrorist-attack-warning-feds-us-border/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=082914

Do we have to get the low down on the government by Judicial Watch every.damn.time?

[Captain Hate]

I don't think Slick ever told a bigger hot steaming pile than if he told Chelsea she didn't look bad in those leather pants.

[Danube on iPad]

Quartermaster Professional Bulletin, Spring 1999:

"'Europe First' strategy. The decision by Allied war planners to take on Hitler first had a major impact on Quartermaster operations the Pacific. They felt the pinch of scarcity often as the mass of supplies and transportation were diverted to Europe. During the immense buildup preceding the Normandy Invasion, Quartermaster supplymen in the Pacific had to contend with long delays, huge backlogs of unfilled requisitions, and a worrisome depletion of available stocks on hand. The situation did not permit dramatic improvements until the last year of the war, most notably after V-E Day."

[Dave (in MA)]

St. Stogies of Ferguson has had thrice as many autopsies as Scarborough's dead intern.

Apparently Golfy is leaving the links this weekend in order to attend some fundraisers, though that schedule will feature an appearance at the wedding of his personal chef Sam Kass to MSNBC's Alex Wagner. I looked it up: Apparently that wedding couple includes a member of each gender, something not obvious to me simply from the names.

[narciso]

What you don't expect Issa to do it, do you Steph, he'll buy the 'dog ate my homework' all the time,

[daddy]

Alan Colmes just said that we're not under threat from ISIS like the British are because we live on a different continent than the British do.

And looks like Shep Smith will have the day off from hosting his Show today:)

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce has been on a perpetual rant with multiple F-Bombs since the start of her broadcast from Hawaii. Maybe she has a pork allergy.

[Carol Herman]

I think he wore that grey suit because he lost a bet with Al Sharpton.

Since I'm no longer surprised at anything Obama does, where would he get "strategy" from? He doesn't fight for white people.

Plus, it's good news that he didn't accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. For instance, he hates Sisi over in Egypt. And, he loves the muslim brotherhood. So, he favors Hamas.

Obama gives about the least amount of government as anybody. And, most people are glad he occupies himself playing a lot of golf.

At the golf courses he can use their steam rooms.

[Jeff Dobbs]

George:
I, for one, am reassured by the President's determination to entertain all withhis reprise of the Kevin Bacon "Remain calm, all is well" bit from Animal House.

[Ignatz]

Isn't the UK safe since it would be so hard for IS guys to swim the channel?

[Dave (in MA)]

Captain Hate | August 29, 2014 at 02:34 PM
Not exactly Diana Rigg.