Well, as disheartening as these last few days have been for an Obama supporter such as myself, I take great comfort in knowing, without doubt, that the kitchen sink has already been thrown.  And the campaign has, at least in the last few days, if not initially, handled it as well as possible.

While that may seem like thin gruel at this juncture, think about this: what else can they have?  Affairs don't seem likely.  Dead bodies?  No.  Drugs?  We already know and no one cares.  

Of course, the "Wright" issue will be fodder for 527s come the fall.  We can't stop it.  But we can insure that Obama's eloquent and amazing response has already percolated through the information ecosystem.  And from the look of this, this is well on its way to being the case!

So buck up, fight on.  The hardest punch has been thrown, and we're all still standing.  

Well, in spite of what the punditocracy would have you believe, American opinions on almost all aspects of the Iraq situation have remained largely unchanged.  There has been some moderating improvement in attitudes, but the shifts are very small, and nowhere near what has been advertised.  And, interestingly, most shifts appear to be in the Republican-leaning independents, who have a natural tendency to cluelessness.

Poll results on the flip:

Some of you may remember this series of diaries from a few months back.  Some of you may also remember that several Kossacks were instrumental in getting this wonderful child help.  I've been communicating with a Kossack working at the Grossman Burn clinic, where Youssif is being treated, but I haven't posted updates because, well, the surgeries thus far have been pretty minor and preparatory, and I didn't know how much I could get away with revealing.

more on the flip

Increased Resistance
Recent weeks have seen a small uptick in Iraq violence.  The reasons for this are not clear.  It may simple be that the October levels of violence represent the new baseline, or an inflection point.  Some troops are starting to be shifted around in anticipation of deployment stateside. I personally doubt that these shifts are taking a lid off the killing, but given the fragility of the increased security, one never knows. The attempt to replicate the Anbar model in Diyala seems to be meeting considerable resistance, and this increased resistance is, no doubt, fueling some of the new violence.  Furthermore, the insurgents recently announced a counter-operation to coalition moves and this may explain some of the increase.

I know I had promised an Iraqi analysis for a while (I still have some "fans" out there, surprisingly).  So here it is...

Well, magical September came and went, we’re still in Iraq.  Violence is down, in some areas impressively, in other regions not so much, but it’s time, once again, for an assessment of Iraq policy, and to figure out where things are likely to be going in the near and far future.

First, some things I’ve been wrong about.  I was sure that, by now, the "government" of Iraq and the autonomous Kurdish regions would be in a full blown war over Kirkuk.  What I failed to see was how much the raging Sunni insurgency would force the Shiites to give the Kurds a lot of room to wiggle.  That, and the fact that the much-awaited referendum on the fate of Kirkuk has failed to materialize.  Still, the anti-kurdish insurgency in Kirkuk continues to simmer.  Watch that.

...more after the jump...

I used to do quite a bit of Iraq analysis here on DKos.  I eventually decided that it was futile, as the analysis never left the confines of Dkos and certainly never managed to inform the deluded coverage in traditional media thought.

I had hoped that, in the last year or so, as America's Iraq failure became irrefutable, the coverage would begin to reflect reality and be less easily shaped by so-called conventional wisdom.

And for a few months I thought that was the case.  I was looking forward to resuming analysis of the clusterfuck.

Forgive this diary rescue, but it's important.

As many of you know, I've been working to try and arrange treatment for the badly burned Iraqi boy (first diaried here).

Well, you can read what's been happening on the flip...

Yesterday I posted a diary on Youssiff, a severely burned Iraqi boy unable to afford help outside of Iraq.

Follow up diaries were posted
here and here.

more on the flip:

This is awful.  I want to fucking die.

Goddamn

I'm posting this story to see if it can get frontpaged and maybe become a cause celebre somehow.  Can we raise money for this kid?  Or pressure the media to help him?  Or even the PR obsessed government?  Bush is trying to make his war look good, a little free reconstructive surgery doled out to our collateral damage might be just the ticket.

Please.

There's a pretty nasty image on the other side.  Fair Warning.

Hmm....this isn't good news.

The right-wing blogosphere has gotten its scalps -- John Edwards has fired the two controversial bloggers he recently hired to do liberal blogger outreach, Salon has learned.

The bloggers, Amanda Marcotte, formerly of Pandagon, and Melissa McEwan, of Shakespeare's Sister, had come under fire from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs. A statement by the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, which called Marcotte and McEwan "anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots," and an accompanying article on the controversy in the New York Times this morning, put extra pressure on the campaign.

This is the issue I care most about, aside from the issue of making snarky comments and scoring sweet juicy "4"s  for my efforts.  With the Democrats in power, we finally have an opportunity to build a consensus on global warming/climate change.  With that in mind, I'm gonna try and make this a somewhat regular repository of information on GW issues, who's saying what, who's doing what, and where the issue is currently headed.  Identifying the bad actors...all that shit.

But since I'm not much use for writing extended pieces, these are probably going to be low on original content.  Sorry, but I've been weighed against writer's ink, and been found wanting.  

The Republican critique of government is a powerful one.  Often powerfully wrong, but still very effective.  And if they ever actually delivered anything other than shit results, perhaps someone like me would be more convinced by this critique.  For example, the idea that the government represents an overclass, hording and creating privileges for itself unattainable by the average joe is an idea that resonates with quite a few people, but it's not a criticism I've ever really believed, until now.

(join me after the jump)

In short they have used the apparatus of power to reserve for themselves Eternal Victory and consign us to Unending Defeat.  They have cheated.  And they are filth.

But we've done it.  We've wrested the people's house back from them.  Methodical organizing, heavy political artillery, and sheer force of will have brought us this victory.  

If the tables were turned, we know what our enemies would do.  They would face stomp us.  They would do whatever it takes to make sure we never forget that we lost tonight.

But we didn't lose.  We won.  So let's be magnanimous in victory.  Let's throw our beaten adversaries a PARTY THEY'RE SURE TO LOVE!!!!

So who's bringing the gay hookers and meth?

This is just so nutty I couldn't believe it.  Mike Stark was actually physically assaulted by Allen staffers.  Not secret service, but campaign workers.  This is perverse.  Allen's reaction: "stuff like that happens."

Those of you who don't know Mike, he's the mastermind behind "Calling All Wingnuts" a blog of his (and others') experiences calling into nutjob talk show hosts and giving them what for.  Usually, hilarity ensues.

I know that Mike gets under the rightards skin, but even this reaction seems a bit extreme.  We cannot let this stand.

Let's get this on the afternoon news.  I know we can do it!
C'mon folks.  The other side can gin up some controversy.  Why can't we?  We've built a lovely little wurlitzer here, so let's see some outrage. (hat tip Atrios)

How you say?  Focused meditation?  Manipulation of reality at the quantum level?  Pie-based diaries?

No...it simply requires a decent printer, a web browser, and some scissors (or buy the most recent Vanity Fair).

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

more after the jump

Iraqi Shiites urge PM to quit.  

"I call on Jaafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by stepping down," Kasim Daoud, a senior member of the independent group within the Alliance, said.

A top aide to Jaafari immediately rejected the call. Jawad al-Maliki said Jaafari would go on "until the end".

This is an astonishing piece of news because just yesterday the main forces in the shi'ah universe had indicated they were unmoved by American pleas to unseat al-Jafaari.  

more after the jump

Intro

Conflict between the net roots and Democratic party insiders has reached a fever pitch.  With the loss of fan-favorites such as Illinois' Christine Cegelis and the conflagration surrounding Paul Hackett's exit from his Ohio race, it has become abundantly clear that, while ostensibly playing for the same team, the netroots and the halls of Democratic party power are perhaps not playing the same game.  It was perhaps inevitable that these divergent interests would show up, since in the end we are interested in putting a lot of potential short-term allies out of long-term jobs.  With this in mind, is there a way to simultaneously maximize our interests and those of the party?