From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
The surge was a strategy? Really?
Angry McCain on Friday night:
"I'm afraid Senator Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy."
Oh, I think he does. Here's the "New Way Forward in Iraq" plan as proposed by George W. Bush on January 10, 2007. It's laid out in a lovely outline form that even a faux-maverick could understand:
The President's New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements:
- Let the Iraqis lead;
- Help Iraqis protect the population;
- Isolate extremists;
- Create space for political progress;
- Diversify political and economic efforts; and
- Situate the strategy in a regional approach.
As Bush himself said: "A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations."
So, yes, the surge matters. For one thing, it means fewer of our troops, not to mention Iraqi forces and civilians, are getting blown up. But, as spelled out by the Bush administration itself, it's just one component of several that were designed to bring some stability, if not theme parks and mega-malls as far as the eye can see, to Iraq.
Not that it matters when it comes to weighing one candidate's judgment against the other's. Fact is, McCain blew it by being a brazen cheerleader for a war that never should've taken place. As Obama said Friday night:
"John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. And you were wrong."
The moral of this story is clear: John McCain really doesn’t know what he's talking about.
I'd like to take his own words and use them against him: "If I were president today, I'd fire him." The problem is, he was wrong about that, too.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Note: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Unless it's a horse that does duck impressions.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Election Day: 35 (5 weeks)
Days `til the Queen Mary 2 visits Portland Harbor: 1
Number of manufacturing jobs in Maine in 1995: 82,300
Number of manufacturing jobs now: 59,000
(Source: Maine Sunday Telegram)
Number of ships that have been hijacked by PIRATES! Off the coast of Somalia this year: 25
Number of ships currently being held by PIRATES!: 14
(Source: The New York Times)
Percent of married couples who say they squabble about money: 43%
(Source: Parade magazine)
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
There are two kinds of people in this country.
Remember on 911 we had people running from the burning towers and we had people running in to save people. McCain is the kind that runs in to save people and his country.
Obama, well Obama seems to be with the crowd that cheered bringing down the towers and the country.
---Commenter "MSP" at RedState
All together now: One...two...three... Classy!!!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
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CHEERS to September 29, 2008. It was a mild, partly sunny day here in Maine. The birds were singing, the tourists from the big cruise ship were happily shopping in the Old Port, and the trees were starting to put on their annual fireworks display of brilliant fall colors. What a wonderful day.
[Turns on the news...]
HOLY SHIT! to September 29, 2008. This is so fucked up---I always thought when something stopped at "777" it meant we won something. Yesterday it meant America lost $1.1 trillion in market value in seven hours. So what to do? For me, it's baby steps. Really, really easy stuff I can do without thinking: 1) Feed cat. 2) Put on socks. 3) Remove cat food from feet. 4) Remove sock from cat's head. Okay, so maybe I'll just sit quietly and grind my teeth for awhile.
P.S. President Bush burned the late-night oil to come up with a new and innovative way to bring the country together in this time of crisis. He was up until 9:05. How does he do it?
CHEERS to comforting words. From Bonddad's blog yesterday afternoon:
OK -- take a deep breath for a moment. I know it's probably hard right now. But this is not the time to do any analysis. It is the time to walk away until tomorrow morning. I will have a complete market analysis up by 8AM CST -- that's a half hour before the market opens. I will try to have it up sooner but that might be difficult. There is a lot of information to sort through right now.
I wonder if he'll be upset when he wakes up and discovers I'm clinging to his leg.
JEERS to the blame game. So who's responsible for this mess? The last I heard Barney blamed Boehner who blamed Pelosi who blamed McCain who blamed Obama who blamed Reid who blamed Wall Street which blamed Main Street which blamed Bush who blamed Barney. Everybody happy now?
CHEERS to the kind of auction where you get something cool for your money. The government bailout Unicorn Delivery Plan will include lots of "reverse auctions," in which companies try to convince Henry Paulson that their shit is slightly less worthless than the other guy's shit. Not so at the upcoming Netroots Nation auction---October 9th through the 23rd! There's lots of primo stuff on the block and you can check it out here. But they're still in need of more items, so if you have anything Kossacks might find bid-worthy (books, political souvenirs, sports paraphernalia, copper pipe, solid-gold garter buckles), click here for info. Many thanks. (And just try outbidding me on the autographed Dwight Schrute bobblehead. Just tryyyy.)
CHEERS to a double dose of doofus droppings. Wanna see a preview of next week's Saturday Night Live? Katie Couric just handed Sarah Palin and John McCain's heads to Tina Fey and Darrel Hammond on a silver platter. I was half-expecting Palin to turn to McCain and ask if she could borrow the car keys if she promised to be home by midnight. Tomorrow they'll be joined by Cindy! And Todd! And Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Trig! (And you thought the Waltons were annoying...)
JEERS to a bumpy ride. Here's an example of how "Main Street" is going to suffer under the economic crisis. A return to the good old days of dirt roads:
The state of Maine could not float a $50 million transportation bond this week because traders told officials there was "no market" at all for large financial transactions such as this one. ... "In 34 years I have never had a trader say, 'I can't give you a sale price. There is no market,' " said Maine Municipal Bond Bank Executive Director Robert Lenna, describing his efforts to sell the bond on Wall Street.
A week ago, Lenna said, the interest rate for the AA-rated revenue bond would have been about 3.8 percent or 3.9 percent. But on Tuesday, short-term interest rates, a factor used to calculate interest rates for municipal bonds, soared as high as 9 percent and 10 percent, effectively shutting down market activity.
Translation: streets crumble and our cars take a beating. No wonder the mechanics in town are turning cartwheels.
CHEERS to great inventions. On September 30, 1846, William Morton---a Boston dentist---used ether as an anesthetic for the first time. He had better luck the next day when he used it on the patient.
JEERS to running on fumes. Parts of America are facing a different type of liquidity shortage. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike damaged enough refineries to disrupt gas supplies down south in a big way:
The Energy Department said that as of Wednesday 63 percent, or 800,000 barrels a day, of production in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut down as were five refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. The refineries produce a half-million barrels of gasoline a day, or about 5 percent of the nation's total supplies. Other refineries are still working at less than full capacity.
"The production loss is similar to what was lost after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina," said Anne Peebles, a Shell Oil spokeswoman. "This time the physical damage [to oil facilities] was not as great, but the down time with the storms hitting back to back is similar." She said that "more fuel is coming" as facilities gradually ramp up again, but "we do think that production availability will normalize in the next several weeks."
In the meantime, you can get a great deal at Bob's Discount Alternative Transportation Emporium. I hear they'll even throw in mud flaps and an oat bag for free. Such a deal!!
CHEERS to home vegetation. Out on DVD today: Iron Man! Oh, also something called Taxi to the Dark Side. A documentary, we assume, about a cabbie who takes a tragic turn into Dick Cheney's driveway.
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Two Years Ago in C&J: September 30, 2006...
JEERS to The United Gulag of America. Everything we learned about what America stands for in first grade---most notably and justice for all---was sacrificed on the Republican altar of re-election this week. Over to you, Stephen...
"We all know about the big dust-up between President Bush and the Senate leadership over his wanting to change the Geneva Conventions, right? Well, on Thursday, they reached a compromise. That's not just a victory for Bush, it's a victory for the country. Because basic human rights is something we all need to compromise on."
---Stephen Colbert
To be fair, detainees will start getting pudding on Thursdays. Because we care.
JEERS to the delicate sensibilities of Old Europe. Some Belgian travelers on an Air France Flight say they were traumatized and "feared for their safety" when fellow passenger Bonnie Tyler was asked to sing Total Eclipse of the Heart. Of course, what the press failed to mention was that she was on the wing with a hacksaw at the time.
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And just one more...
CHEERS to satire that doesn’t need quotation marks around it. I've softened my position a bit on that New Yorker cover that portrayed Barack and Michelle Obama as terrorists giving each other a fist bump under a portrait of Osama bin laden (with the American flag ablaze in the fireplace to boot). I still dislike the cartoon itself because there's nothing about it that winks at the reader. But the joke, I admit, is in the venue itself---an ultra-liberal magazine. So ha-ha, I guess. But for my money the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, in which Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert reenact that lightning-rod cover, is ten times as hilarious. That's goin' up on the fridge.
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Oh, and here's some good news: this is the last September day of the Bush administration. Only 108 days to freedom. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"It was great to see so many different types of diapers all in Cheers and Jeers."
---Aya Habuka
USA Today
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