Login Here 
While traditional media sources are focusing on what a cranky bastard Jim Webb is for not responding with cheerful bootlicking when Bush asked about his son (stationed in Iraq), it seems there may be more to the story. From Not Larry Sabato:
As President Bush is well aware, a couple of weeks before this dinner the tank riding next to Jimmy's in Iraq was under fire and three marines died.
My sources are telling me that the way President Bush approached Webb with his tone, it appeared he was asking the question of how Jimmy was doing in a mocking manner, while he was certainly aware of the tragedy that had hit his unit a few weeks earlier.
It sounds entirely consistent with President AWOL's chummy, condescending frat-boy manner of intimidating conversational banter. The Washington Post, however, is quick to quote those on the Hill who conclude from this outburst that Webb is not made of The Right Senatorial Stuff ("I think he's going to be a total pain").
And Chuck Schumer adds helpfully:
"He's not a typical politician. He really has deep convictions," said Schumer, who headed the Senate Democrats' campaign arm.
From this we infer that Schumer believes that typically, most politicians have no deep convictions. Whether you want to file this under projection or just simple self-awareness is a matter of personal choice, I suppose.
Share This 
Spotlight
Fitz!
James Webb - What a pleasant surprise. He left a big old foot print on the Presidents butt wearing his son’s combat boots.
Jim Webb!
hoo- rah!
Senator-elect Webb!
Woo-hoot!
If Webb had punched Bush out, would this then qualify as a Constitutional crisis?
Can’t believe after all this time, I finally got a first!
Senator-elect Webb will give the Bush crowd fits. I loved it when he held his son’s boots high in the air for all to see when he won the election.
Too bad Joe Liebrman wasn’t there. He could have pansy slapped Webb (”how dare you make my boyfriend upset, you nasty man!) and then gone and licked Bush’s boots!!
Senator Webb!
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — President Bush’s high-stakes summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was put off Wednesday after public disclosure of U.S. doubts about his capacity to control sectarian warfare.
White House counselor Dan Bartlett denied that the move was a snub by al-Maliki or was related to the leak of a White House memo questioning the prime minister’s capacity for controlling violence in Iraq.
Bartlett said that Wednesday night’s three-way meeting had always been planned as “more of a social meeting…”
If Rove is putting this stuff out, then Karl has lost it completely.
I like him more and more.
OT– wtf is Timmerman (newsmax) doing with Tucker misrepresenting Ahmadinejad’s letter (which is freely available to anyone in America) and ramping up more hatred?
gak– now he’s got Hitchens on.
No higher praise considering the source.
Totally OT:
Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)
George Harrison (February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001)
http://www.georgeharrison.com/
i’m curious, what did georgie boy really expect webb to say, “hey, yeah, my son’s doing great. iraq is paradise i he just loves it there.” wake up jackass! iraq is a hellhole (of your making) and no one wants to be there. it makes me shudder to think that we have someone so clueless running the country.
Totally o/t but……. perhaps not if you want to do a compare-&-contrast between Webb & the idiot from Texas who’s temporarily filling DeLay’s shoes: a lovely piece of snark from Texas…..
http://www.statesman.com/news/.....kelso.html
Re: Schumer.
Uh, I vote for simple-minded. Ample proof of that and it’s an all-purpose explanation of whatever he says.
Senator-elect Webb.
My Senator, and I voted for him.
Yeah!
Schumer’s Freudian slip is showing…
good on you, mc and all other smart Virginians!
I think Webb is made of exactly the Right Senatorial Stuff, and he should keep being a total pain. He isn’t the Senator whose positions are closest to my own (by a long shot!) but his attitude and demeanor? Perfect.
mc
“My Senator and I voted for him…”
Congratulations. It will be fun to watch come January.
Semi OT,
I read through Stephen Hadley’s November 8, 2006 memo. I’ll skip the bits that have already been quoted and go straight to the framework. This is my take on it.
Basically, the memo recommends that Maliki pushback against increasing Shia control in the government. If he can (and he can’t), the memo suggests unrealistic and politically suicidal actions (mostly in Baghdad) like break with one of his most important sources of support Muqtada al Sadr, appoint technocrats to run ministries that he doesn’t control and which would undercut any support from the parties that do, add Sunnis and Kurds (that he can’t trust and don’t trust him) to his personal staff, approve a status of forces agreement with us (Hello, permanent bases!), expand the Iraqi Army because this has been so successful to date, suspend suspect police units in the much feared, SCIRI controlled Ministry of the Interior (creating a conflict with yet another party), and embedding coalition forces (from who knows where) with these police units. You could call this the Lieberman approach because it would leave Maliki as a party of one.
To help Maliki do all this, the Hadley memo recommends that we go after the insurgency in Baghdad, downplay the role of our ambassador Khalilzad (who’s leaving anyway) so Maliki can appear as a strong leader (without actually being one), talk to the Sunnis, pressure Iran and Syria not to interfere in Iraq’s affairs, and pressure Saudi Arabia to interfere in Iraq’s affairs.
However, the memo notes that if Maliki can’t do this (and again he can’t), we should encourage him to form a new moderate, non-sectarian party (which would increase his base to that of a small sewing circle) and fill an estimated four brigade security gap in Baghdad with reliable Iraqi troops (something of an oxymoron there) if available or almost certainly US forces drawn from elsewhere in Iraq (Goodbye, Anbar?)
Most tellingly the memo makes no mention of Iraq’s civil war (even using euphemisms), which should give you an idea of how completely disconnected from reality it is.
How are your daughters, Mr. President? Did they enjoy Argentina?
That would be the same George Bush who did this:
mc @ 12
Or… “You’ve Given Me (us) A Wah-Wah”. From the GOP to us for having given us the gift of baby Georgie.
Emma Anne @
19
Now, we need 99 more with that attitude and demeanor.
Jim Webb is a real man and a true leader!
I’m so glad (finally) that I live in Virginia!
Spent most of my life in western Pa., and it looks like they’re finally doing OK there, too!
Although I am from Kentucky I sent Webb as much money as I could before the election. What a guy. I am so proud of him. Now THERE’S a man. All Democrats take note.
ac2, angie:
Who knows how Webb will work out in the Senate? But calling BULLSHIT to W’s face makes the work people all over Virginia did to get Webb elected worth it.
Oklahoma kiddo @
5
No. It might speed the end of that crisis. And it would have made the phony macho rightwing wackos’ heads explode. Congnitive dissonance in the extreme.
The rest of the world would cheer to see this bully taken down.
Hugh, you went and did it again!
bravo.
I just have one little thing to add.
Bushco fomented the civil war. I really believe it.
kudos to you.
sofistic @
25
If you take a look at Tester, you’ll revise that 99 down to 98. ;~)
Once again, JUST ‘chimpeach’ the asshole! There goes the Xmas mood that had been elevated by Aaron Neville’s SOULFUL XMAS. What do these freaks know anywho?
Thanks, angie.
please, please, PLEASE put web on committees where he will be able to question Abizaid and Myers about their “Iraq strategy”….
“General Myers, according to the President and the former Secretary of Defense, they’ve been following your advice for the last four years on our military engagement in Iraq. Is this true? And if it is true, given the consistent deterioration of the situation in Iraq, would sign this letter of resignation that I’ve prepared for you, citing your own gross incompetence and responsibility for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousand of Iraqis because YOUR ADVICE RESULTED IN A COMPLETE CLUSTERFUCK BLOODBATH!!!!”
(just dreaming here…)
Thanks Hugh and btw I am still waiting for someone to pick up on your earthquake like comment (imo) a few threads ago. According to Bush, al-queda is still the problem in Iraq. If this is the case (and it isn’t but Bush won’t admit it), why are we leaving Anbar province, which is Sunni and the only place al-queda can survive?
I hope I didn’t butcher your thought too much, but I am hoping the TM will ask Tony
it’s only a numberSnow or someone else at the WH.what does ac2 mean?
(I know, I have much to learn!)
OT.
Goodbye Diebold?
NATIONAL STANDARDS INSTITUTE TO RECOMMEND SCRAPPING DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINES!
snip
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3860
Just read the wikipedia entry for the senator here.
Interesting, if not very granular, some surprise tidbits. He boxed Oliver North, a classmate at the academy, lost in a controversial decision. Speaks Vietnamese fairly well.
Seems fairly up to date.
Apple Canyon 2
;-)
An non-sexually ambiguous AC/DC tribute band that calls itself AC/AC?
OT — But very interesting scuttlebutt.
Pat Roberts may be looking to bail from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Take a gander at this:
http://kcbuzzblog.typepad.com/.....f_int.html
I didn’t stumble on this all by myself. Josh Marshall linked to this local Kansas blog in a recent TPM posting.
Hmmm….I’m wondering if Roberts is perchance lawyering up. God knows he’s been one of the chief Senate cover-uppers and WH crime enablers. Possible?
Hugh at 21: Well done. You might enjoy seeing a mock reply by Maliki, based on Hadley’s memo, but substituting Bush for Maliki in each recommendation about how to broaden his regime and improve governance. It’s a much better memo than Hadley’s.
Breaking: Maliki Reply Memo Leaked
The thing with the Bush family that grates on me is that they appear to exude an attitude that they are qualitatively better than everyone else.
Beats the hell out of Democratic Senators making out with Bush.
Everythingseemssoneat @ 44
oooooh, yeah.
P.S. I love, love, love Senator-elect Webb’s style and would like to tell him so.
Does anyone know if he has a Senate email address set up yet, and if so, what it is? Or if he has another publicly accessible email address?
I think it would be a very good thing if we were to offer him our moral support.
e.c. @
13
yes, he did! he wanted to know that Webb would be brought to heel…
Russert just said on 5:30 newscast that next Tuesday and Wednesday will be days worth watching.
Tuesday, confirmation hearings for new
Secretary of Defense.
Wednesday, release of the long awaited “non-
political” Baker report. Oh, wait,
it is the Iraq Study Group Report.
OldCoastie @ 47
I think it was an ominous “warning” of sorts. As in, “You do remember, don’t you, that as Commander-in-Chief (heh-heh), your son’s life is in my hands?”
Lou Dobbs and panel talking about Webb incident on CNN now
Bush is supposed to be one bad mother f’er. In his dreams.
webb shoulda told bush that his son is doing fine despite the mess bush has made out of iraq, and then asked him how bush’s daughters were doing partying in argentina.
Mrs. K8– you can always go here!
http://webb.bluestatedigital.com/page/s/contact
Oklahoma kiddo @ 5
Making contact would seem to violate the Constitutional “separation of powers.”
Although I guess you could classify it as falling under the Senate’s “advise and consent” responsibility…
Swopa - you funny!
Bustednuckles @ 37
That is Great News! NIST sets standards for everything from the atomic clocks to radio frequencies, and have been a real stand-up agency for years.
BTW, did you notice that Brad finally has a button to change the eye-bleeding color to a much more pleasant combination? (scroll down and look for the button on the right hand side)
So the Brownshirt-in-Chief was slightly miffed that Webb had called him on his presidential bullshit.
Watch out, Webb, Dead Eye Dick Cheney may invite you to go hunting with him.
Tomorrow’s news story I do not want to hear: Joe Lieberman feels that Jim Webb needs to drop his hostile, bipartisan tone.
jdw @ 52
I imagine something like this:
“He’s keeping his head down…Oh, that reminds me. I’ve been reading some headlines lately about your adult daughters. How are they?”
[Although I have a question about timing — I got the impression this reception for freshman Congresscritters did NOT just happen this week, but I’m not sure when it was. It may have happened before the South American Thanksgiving Antics of the twins provided such entertaining headlines in the tabloids.]
p.lukasiak #34,
General Richard Myers was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2001-September 30, 2005. He is retired. General Peter Pace is the current Chairman.
OT - But did you ever think you would get an email from an elected official like this?
AP is reporting that Maliki canceled on three way meeting because the King wanted to talk about Israel/Palestine, Maliki pissed at that.
Article (via Left Coaster) here.
angie @ 53
Ooooh, angie! Thank you SO much. That’s perfect.
So whaddaya say, guys? Shall we tell Jim Webb how much we appreciate his directness and honesty?
I’d hate for him to think he has to “conform” to the more traditional senatorial
smarmy oilinessdecorum.So will Webb be invited to the White House for popcorn and movies?
you know what?
since this event, the press and the politcians are going to start treating Bush like a low life.
for instance pelosi’s “his referance to alqaeda in Iraq is sad” [paraphrased for lack of link] to feingolds “cheney has been consistantly wrong on everything he’s claimed”
this is really getting funner and funnerer
ABC is confriming it while the bush boys dance like mofo’s.
jeffreyw @ 62
Oh Jeez — CNN: now the right wing is complaining that the cartoon movie “Happy Feet” about penguins is leftist environmental propaganda. Wait until they see “Bambi.”
Slothrop @ 58
Actually, I’d like to hear Webb respond to that one, too.
Well, the Israel/Palestine issue is very critical, but there were 80 Iraqis killed today and much that has happened before and since 911 is because of Israel/Palestine and us.
al- Maliki needs to save his country NOW.
I’m wonderin’ what shrub’s astrological chart is looking like these days… difficulties in communications, perhaps?
The world famous purple finger government that Clusterfuck rushed into existance may be dead..
Remember that when Iraq couldn’t figure out the constitution, Clusterfuck said “forget it- just have elections”.
At every step along the way, Clusterfuck forced the Iraqis to forget about doin the real work and settle for the appearance of pogress- why? For Clusterfuck’s political benefit..
Now them swallows are comin back ta Capistrano.
He’s going to end up going for a one-way-ride in an APC ala Diem.
angie @ 69
From this we infer that Schumer believes that typically, most politicians have no deep convictions.
That’s what i took away from it.
scarecrow @ 68
I’d like to SEE Webb respond, standing right next to Joe (CFL-Opportunist). Isn’t he at least a head taller?
Hope Congresscritters all begin askin Clusterfuck ta step outside and settle differences like a man. Hope Pelosi is the first..
Make a laughingstock of the fucker.
I meant “partisan” tone…you know what I meant…
If tomorrow’s meeting doesn’t happen- the witch doctor is winning.
A little curse fer ya Clusterfuck
klyde @ 73
I think I may write to Chuck directly, just to ask him why he himself doesn’t have any deep convictions.
There will be no peace in the Middle East until there is a Palestinian homeland and the world treats the Palestinians in a manner befitting what they are. Human beings.
Mrs. K8 @ 78
me too.
Maliki bailing on meeting with Bush after all the networks have made this a media event would be real sweeeeeeet!
I know it is too much to ask for, isn’t it?
When Clusterfuck goes on trips ta foreign soil- good things always happen
rwcole @ 77
/forgot about that witch doctor stuff
The world including the Islamic states, for the most part they have done worse than nothing for the Palestinians.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 79
I hear Bush tried that same line on al-Maliki and it didn’t work too well either.
–WKW
anyone think any of this is sinking in to the president yet?
we know he’s been protected from bad news for the majority of his presidency, we also know that wall of isolatio is thinner then it was
does he think he’s doing a good job?
does he even know how low his approval rating is?
has anyone ever asked him if he knows his approval is some of the lowest in American history?
Israel is a sore subject for Maliki:
link
So what if Malaki walks up to Clusterfuck- kicks him in the balls- and then goes home…I like that scenario.
rwcole @ 77
brocolli rulez!
William K. Wolfrum @ 85
I wonder if he tried to give him a shoulder massage
scarecrow @ 67
Before, stuff like this was merely more noise in the wind tunnel. Now it’s another example of the growing irrelevancy of the American right wing.
Jim Webb is simply a great guy. George Bush is a fool. There it is.
scarecrow @ 67
And I’m sure they’re playing the song “Hi-Ho Hi-Ho” from Snow White on their hi-fi’s *backwards* as we speak. To find the secret satanic liberal messages with which Walt Disney (that homosexual-agenda-supporting corporation) has been brainwashing America’s children for decades.
The horror!
Has anyone heard whether Larry Kissell (NC8) has conceded? Something I just pulled up on NCBlue sounds like it might have happened since Kissell is talking about running again in ‘08.
jeffreyw @ 87
yep. and most of our dems were front and center condemning him.
I want everybody in our government to take a course in History beyond our borders.
Guy forced to resign presidency of the christian right cause he suggested that in addition to fighting abortion and gay marriage, the group should talk about something that Jesus actually expressed and opinion about- like the poor. Fart in church!
TerryKindlon @ 92
I immediately understand why Webb behaved the way he did. I still haven’t figured out how many times Bar’s hired help dropped Dubya to make him the way he is. That settles it.
So this Jim Baker dog-and-pony commission has come to a consensus.
But they’re not releasing their “results” for one full week.
Why’s that?
Mrs. K8 @ 98
…and they will brief chimpy before the results are made public.
I just had an epiphame;
I think daddy bush forced baby bush out of the country
like;
“the only thing for you to do son is leave and make it look like you are doing something”
daddy is president now you know, he’s gotten his second term after all
Waccamaw — emaili from Larry Kissell dated yesterday:
I wish Webb HAD cold-cocked him.,
Remember what Paul Thorn says:
It’s a great day for me to whup somebody’s ass.”
How many think that even in his post-presidential obscurity, Chimp will need a LOT more security than any ex-prez since Nixon?
Baker can’t kick Clusterfuck in the nuts with his report while Clusterfuck is off gettin his nuts kicked in Jordan.
My contempt for this man who thinks he is President increases exponentially with each passing day. Viewed in a larger context, Webb has issued the opening shot for this Congress that will not be anywhere as docile as the last.
That makes me happy.
If Webb’s kid gets injured or, please God no, gets killed, there will be hell to pay. Webb can do what Cindy Sheehan could not-call bullshit on Bush’s war and have the political power to back it up.
It shouldn’t matter, everyone of those kids belongs to someone. Get on the case now.
mc @ 104
For the Palestinian travail and unbelievable suffering; I mostly blame the United States government. And the American people.
People, it’s not too early to start punishing the Dems who voted for the war, and the ones who supported Lieberman. they ALL have to go.
Boxer first.
twolf1 @ 99
And it takes time to do the picturebook version.
raven@105
Agreed.
twolf1 @ 99
Yeah. I guess we have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD, huh? So there’s no rush. These “wise men” disgust me.
rwcole @ 77
oh YEAH! I forgot about the witchdoctor’s curse!
Hugh @ 108
Maybe something more interactive would help Dubya understand the relationship between actions and consequences. Some sort of sticker book, perhaps?
perris 100 — bingo.
Baker makes sure the fingerprints are wiped up for sake of legacy.
I want out of Iraq. I want politicians of whatever party who voted for this war, and continue to support it, held accountable.
angie @ 95
With Jimmy Carter as the Dean of Education and Juan Cole as the Chair of Middle Eastern Studies.
Anyone who reads Steven King knows how these curse things work- at first they are light and almost humorous–then parts of yer body start fallin off. Watch out there Clusterfuck- pick up after yerself!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 106
I agree.
oh OK kiddo– I have a link and maybe you will have a chance to read or watch this; I found it very powerful.
http://www.democracynow.org/ar.....28/1454248
EvilDrPuma @ 112
I envision more a kind of book where a boxing-glove-clad fist comes flying off the page and bops him one upside the head.
[To secret service — this is pure fantasy! I know of no one (other than Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner) who can design such a thing.]