With no sign of progress in Iraq, Bush plans more campaign speeches

The White House War Room is in full operational mode. Not the War Room to deal with the war. No, the War Room to deal with the spin about the war.

The Washington Post takes a look at Bush's upcoming campaign. He faces a huge problem with Iraq. It's a war he started for the wrong reasons and without a plan for how to extricate the US. So now he's stuck and Americans are being killed every day:

Bush's historical burden is that there is no recent precedent for a leader using persuasion to reverse a steady downward slide for a military venture of the sort he is facing. Only clear evidence of success in Iraq is likely to alleviate widespread unease about the central project of this presidency, public opinion experts and political strategists said.

So there's no sign of progress on the horizon. As the Post notes, speeches alone won't solve the problem. So what's the Bush solution? More speeches:

Bush plans to use the time before the December elections in Iraq to talk about the U.S. stake and make the case that he has a strategy that is working, beginning on Wednesday with a speech in Annapolis that will focus on what the administration says is clear progress in training of the Iraqi security force. Other speeches will follow as White House officials attempt to use the final weeks of this year and early next year to shape public opinion.

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Happy Thanksgiving Open Thread

Just finished Thanksgiving dinner with the family. My niece and nephews are over, so it's basically one big zoo - though a big nice zoo. It's a balmy 18 degrees outside - ah the joys of Chicago :-) Tomorrow I'm off Christmas tree hunting with my sis and a cousin visiting from college (he's from Panama, part of the Latin American contingent of the Greek clan, we've got 'em in Panama and Brazil). Sis wants us to chop down our own tree, though I suspect that's because she's never had to do the chopping. Maybe we'll make the Panamian do the chopping - so long as he's never read Tom Sawyer. Read More......

Brownie has a new job

Place this one in the "I can't believe it's for real" category and don't read on an empty stomach. Read More......

Why does Archbishop O'Malley hate the poor and disadvantaged so much?

Talk about pathetic, O'Malley has canceled his plans to participate at the upcoming Catholic Charities annual Christmas dinner because the event will be honoring Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a Catholic who supports abortion rights and gay marriage. Yea, that's the way to show 'em! Screw those poor people and let them go find another charity event. Way to go for putting aside your differences for an evening and thinking about the people who will be impacted the most by your stroll down wingnut path. And the church wonders why they have problems and are in steep decline. Oh the moral leadership... Read More......

Open Thread

Thread away. Read More......

Joe Lieberman stays the course with Bush on Iraq

Joe the sanctimonious Hawk is in Iraq reciting the Bush administration talking points. One question, Joe, since you're so supportive of the war: What the hell is the mission in Iraq of which you speak?:

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman told Iraq's prime minister Wednesday that U.S. forces will remain in Iraq until their mission is complete, despite growing unease in Congress about the progress of the conflict here.

"We cannot let extremists and terrorists, a small number, here in Iraq deprive the 27 million Iraqis of what they want which is a better freer life, safer life for themselves and their children" Lieberman said after his meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

And, Joe, yesterday, the Iraqi government said that they want us to leave and that killing our troops (the occupying force) isn't terrorism. Since you are the first US official to meet with the Iraqi government since that happened, did you discuss those developments with the Prime Minister?

Lieberman also downplayed the Murtha speech. And he probably wonders why his presidential campaign was such a disaster. Read More......

Bush & Pentagon sell out to terrorists because they hate our troops

Sickening. Why do George Bush and the Joint Chiefs of Staff hate our troops?

The Bush administration and military leaders are sounding optimistic notes about scaling back U.S. troops in Iraq next year, as public opposition to the war and congressional demands for withdrawal get louder.

Mr. President, cowards never run, and runners never, uh, coward. Read More......

European Union asking about those CIA "detention" centers

How quaint. Thinking they can get answers from the Bush administration:

The European Commission will seek answers from Washington on reports the CIA ran secret detention centers in Europe, the bloc's Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said on Thursday.

The Washington Post newspaper reported this month the CIA had been interrogating suspected al Qaeda captives at a secret facility in eastern Europe that was part of a covert global prison system with sites in eight countries.

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Alito's was member of club with nasty sexist, racist and homophobic leanings

Oh yes, and he was proud of it. You see, according to the club:

"People nowadays just don't seem to know their place," fretted a 1983 Prospect essay titled "In Defense of Elitism." "Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."

Ah yes, all those uppity brown and yellow people, the gimps, the fags. And this man was proud of his association with a group that thought their ought to be strict limits on the number of women permitted to attend Princeton, since they were changing the student body "drastically" for the worse.

More at Kos. Read More......

Thanksgiving Morning Open Thread

Okay, it's a holiday. Off to a slow start. What's going on? Read More......

Another day, another troop withdrawal rumor

Hope runs eternal as yet another round of troop cut stories makes the rounds. Haven't we heard it all before and then nothing? Why do those creating these rumors believe that the next Iraqi election will actually calm down Iraq? I have yet to see anything that says this next election will reduce tension in Iraq and it's not like the US has been very effective with training Iraq troops to take over combat situations. Rumors are all these people have to minimize their sagging support so I'll believe it when I see it. There have just been too many lies to believe anything out of DoD or the GOP. Read More......

British High Court reviews case on independent inquiry on Iraq invasion

Blair, like his mate Bush, is finally taking the thrashing that he rightly deserves for sending people off to die for a war based in lies. One of the family members of a British soldier killed in action is speaking out and backing the High Court case that is calling for a real investigation and not another government coverup.

That is why today, 24 November, the Green family are supporting Rose Gentle and Reg Keys at the Royal Courts of Justice in their demand for an independent and effective public inquiry into the Iraq war and subsequent occupation.

If I made a controversial decision in my work that resulted in the death or injury of many healthy hard-working men and women I would expect to be held accountable for it. At the very least the leaders of our country must do the same.

This court case is to find out the truth. It is not an act of revenge or even an exercise in apportioning blame.

Heaven forbid our leaders talk about the truth. It's not like they like talking about democracy and freedom or any crazy ideas like that. I don't think that Bush and Blair have any interest in ever discussing the truth because it just gets in the way for them. Read More......