Politicians.

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:20 pm

Hey, as we proved in 2000...even the guy who gets the most votes doesn't even win.

No wonder the Iraqis don't want our form of "democracy."

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:30 pm

They don't know what they want! The club will avoid the word 'Race' if it kills them but the approach, for example, to the 'sanctity' of life seems generally to be a purely western concept. Even a supposedly secular country like Turkey manifests a considerably different attitude to democracy or human rights than do the more 'western' countries.
Is it due to upbringing/society or is at a more basic level?

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:51 pm

Today's news reminded me of this quotation:

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
--Plato

http://apnews.excite.com/article/200803 ... ET400.html

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

Get rid of the guys who oppose "The Plan."

On August 1, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld replaced General Shinseki as Army Chief of Staff with General Peter J. Schoomaker after Shineski "questioned the cakewalk scenario, and told Congress (that February) that we would need several hundred thousand soldiers in Iraq to put an end to the violence against our troops and against each other." [2]
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called his estimate "wildly off the mark" and said, "I am reasonably certain that they will greet us as liberators, and that will help us to keep requirements down." By July 2003, "many experts say that the worst of the chaos in Iraq could have been contained if there had been enough troops on the ground from the beginning. There's a growing consensus that something close to what Shinseki suggested might be necessary to turn the situation around." [3]

Post by **MichelleH** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:16 pm

This would be funny if it weren't such a perfect example of the Alfred E. Newman administration we have.......

Cheney the right person to try & bring down oil prices?

Vice President Dick Cheney is on his way to the Middle East to do something about skyrocketing oil prices. We’ll pause here to give you a chance to stop laughing. Cheney will meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey. The White House says it wants OPEC to increase production.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/ ... il-prices/

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:09 pm

Why doesn't Bandar Bush go himself? The Saudis are always glad to see him.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:45 pm

Obama has won Mississippi handily. The final delegate count won't be known for a while.

Lot's of news today, I'll comment when I get a chance.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:58 pm

He's cleaning up the Red States.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:37 pm

He's cleaning up the Red States.

That's Clintons argument in a nutshell. She will put a lot of pressure on the superdelegates, and she'll have a good argument. If this were the general election instead of the primaries, she would have won the presidency by now - almost. She'll win in PA., and any redo in Fla. and Michigan.

Obama extended his delegate lead by about 7. Other good news is Spitzer is a Clinton superdelegate. He's about to be gone.

I'm still worried though. Obama is making a lot of mistakes and not looking as good as he did. Hillary is getting him pissed. Plus one of the Clinton surrogates raised the race issue again. That's playing with fire, but Clinton will burn down the Dem party if it gets her what she wants.

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:04 am

I'm not sure I buy Clinton's argument there. The blue states will stay blue. But Obama is consistently outpolling McCain in the red states and if he could pick off one or two of those it would cinch the race. The economy is heading into the shitter and McCain is almost as useless as Bush on that subject. It shall be an interesting few months.

Meanwhile, the GOP just lost Hastert's seat in what had to be as safe a republican district as there was. That has to have them shitting bricks.

Rudolph Hucker · Post by **Rudolph Hucker** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:25 am

A British scientist-turned-comedian was always mightily peeved on meeting new people as they invariably said "You're a comedian, tell us a joke". He asked that if he were a politician, would those same peopel go up and ask, "You're a politican - tell us a lie"

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:03 am

I think he makes perfectly good sense.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:14 am

MichelleH wrote:This would be funny if it weren't such a perfect example of the Alfred E. Newman administration we have.......

Cheney the right person to try & bring down oil prices?

Vice President Dick Cheney is on his way to the Middle East to do something about skyrocketing oil prices. We’ll pause here to give you a chance to stop laughing. Cheney will meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey. The White House says it wants OPEC to increase production.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/ ... il-prices/

Cafferty at CNN is the leftist response to Rush Limbaugh. They are both funny. They are both idiots.

The oil situation is extremely serious. The only way to send a stronger message to the Saudi's would be for Bush to go. I'd rather have someone who speaks English.

Shortly after WWII the US made a deal. We keep the house of Saud in power as long as they give us oil at a reasonable price. They are still in power - they need to be reminded of the deal. I'm only glad that Cafferty isn't going.

Got to be busy today but I'll get back to your post Min.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:16 am

Whoops - a little history on the Saudi's.

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

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:13 am

Oh yeah - before I go, I know everyone is watching how Ferraro made a simple mistake in the words she used. She is a Clinton surrogate: Flashback to 1988!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/ ... hback.html

Also, big surprise! - the famous 3AM phone call ad - was first used by Fritz Mondale.

Later.

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:26 am

Andy Borowitz did the best bit I've seen on the Red Phone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-boro ... 89567.html

President George W. Bush commented on Sen. Hillary Clinton's controversial "red phone" campaign ads at the White House today, telling reporters, "When that red phone rings, I just let it go straight to voicemail."

Mr. Bush rarely comments about the Democratic presidential contest, but he said that he had to speak up about Sen. Clinton's red phone ads because he found them "so confusing."

"If I answered the red phone every time it rang, I would never get any sleep," Mr. Bush said. "Sometimes it starts ringing at 9 PM, and I am already tucked in by then."