OK Kossacks, about the next presidential race, one thing is sure, Rudy Guiliani will be running. Taking a page out of Rove's playbook, let's make sure that come November 2008, Rudy's damaged goods.
What about Rudy do we go after? Let's "keep our enemies closer" and give them a taste of their own medicine. Rove has made a habit of attacking his opponents where they appear unassailable. I don't think I have to remind anyone on this board about the swift boats.
Rudy's strong point is empathy and leadership. Let's all put our heads together and come up with some angles on how to make these qualities into "unmentionables." If we succeed, we can take out one the Republicans' best hopes at a "crossover" politician. You know, the kind of guy people once thought Dubya was.
Man, I wish these maniacs would stop saying this stuff:
Ayman al-Zawahri, one of the most senior figures in al-Qaeda, has warned Britain and the US to expect more attacks unless they get their troops out of Iraq and all other Muslim countries.
He also warned that London will face new terrorist outrages because of Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy decisions.
There is no better way to ensure that the U.S. stays in Iraq than for a top al-Qaida figure to warn us to get out of Iraq, or else. In the absence of a terrorist suggesting where our armed forces might go, getting out of Iraq is our own decision. It's a question of policy. Hmmm, would getting out of Iraq be better or worse for the U.S.? We are free to ponder that question. But the second a terrorist says "we want you out of Iraq," now one of our choices is equivalent to "doing the bidding of terrorists."
I should add that, although the Democrat, Paul Hackett, made some nasty references to President Bush, he also ran an ad that made him appear to be a pro-Bush Marine supporting the work of our troops in Iraq. Presumably the nasty references (on Chris Matthews' show for example) were aimed at national leftist contributors, while the pro-Bush stuff was for consumption by the voters.
Surprise, surprise. The White House won't reveal John Roberts tax returns. I wonder how long it will take for the state-run Fox News Channel to defend this decision just as vociferously as they called for the tax returns of Theresa Heinz-Kerry.
I'd like to issue a challenge for my lefty blogger brethren: no TV news for a month. Nothing. Nada. Rien. Who's with me? It might seem difficult at first, but I don't see why this wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world. After all, we're liberals! When we don't like something, we boycott it. Why have we taken the complete opposite approach with TV news, watching it almost religiously, hoping to harvest the latest media scandal from Wolf Blitzer, Tweety, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and on and on and on and on? Just stop watching! If it feels good after a month, try another month. Then try forever!
July 22, 2003 Newsday quotes Novak, on Plame's name: "I didn't dig it out. It was given to me. They thought it was significant. They gave me the name, and I used it."
square with this steaming pile of horseshit?
Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story. The conversation eventually turned to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was criticizing the Bush administration's Iraq war policy and the intelligence it used to justify the war, the source said.
I've got a favor to ask of Democrats. Stop asking for apologies. Stop asking for people to "come clean." Stop asking for people to be fired. For God's sake just stop. Why? Because to ask for these things is beyond pointless. The only way a politician is going to comply with any of the above requests is if it's in his or her political advantage to do so. Well, except if you're Dick Durbin, but no matter. Sure it's tempting to put your adversary on the spot and it's certainly inviting to try to paint someone into a political corner, but these tactics DO NOT WORK. All these questions do is put the focus back on your adversary. But isn't that what we want? NO!!! We want the focus to be on us! We want the air to be flooded to overflowing with OUR talking points. We want the media to record OUR every utterance. We want to define our adversary down. We want the public perception of our adversaries to come out of OUR MOUTHS, not theirs.
Seeing Bush's approval ratings tank is fun, but reading someone who saw it coming is even better. It's worth taking another look at this article from Opinion Journal. The thesis of the piece is that a Bush victory in 2004 would be a net negative for the GOP. Of course, we've all watched as the Republican party has morphed over the last 15 years from idealistic oppostion party, to idealistic governing party, to totally corrupt governing party. Bush's second term is merely driving home to the American people just how venal and out of touch the GOP have become. The Opinion Journal piece compares Bush to former British Prime Minister John Major, whose victory (by a slim margin and against pre-election polling) in 1992 pretty much destroyed the British conservative party. I had heard this line of thought from a number of commentators, most notably Andrew Sullivan. Re-reading this article in light of the recent Survey USA approval numbers confirms, for me anyway, its wisdom.
If we stop banging our heads against the wall, the wall will win. It's what the wall wants us to do. The wall will always be there. That is why we must always be ready to bang our heads against it. The question is, who is stronger? The wall or our heads? We will not back down. We must show the wall that we are firmly resolved to continue banging our heads. The question of how long to bang our heads is not nearly as important as our commitment to bang our heads against any wall that dares to stand against us. We will continue to bang our heads for exactly as long as it takes and not one bang more. You're either with the wall or you're with our heads. Young people get it. They realize that even when all seems lost, even when it seems you're just banging your head against a wall, that we will never tire, we will never quit and, against all odds, we will never fail to bang our heads against a wall.
