Democrats vow all-night session on Iraq

This is what we've been asking the Democrats for. Some high-profile attempts to shake the Republicans, and the public, up about the war. Whether the Democrats are ultimately successful with the Reed-Levin amendment or not, the Republicans are hurting badly over the Iraq issue, and this kind of effort, and press coverage, only makes matters worse for them. But more importantly, it moves us one step closer to the day when this war will be over.

From AP:

The Senate this week will pull its first all-night debate on the Iraq war in advance of a vote on whether to bring home combat troops by next spring, Democrats said Monday.

The rare, round-the-clock session Tuesday night through Wednesday morning is intended to bait Republicans into an exhaustive debate on the politically unpopular war, as well as punish GOP members for routinely blocking anti-war legislation.

"How many sleepless nights have our soldiers and their families had?" said Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

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FOX bans condom ad because network objects to notion that condoms can prevent pregnancy

Yeah, what kind of crazy idea is that? Everyone knows people wear condoms for comfort. The GOP's own Pravda just keeps sinking lower and lower. Read the rest of this post...

Hooker-lovin' cajun adulterer Senator lets wife he cheated on defend him

GOP family values Senator David Vitter just held a press conference, didn't acknowledge that he paid a hooker repeatedly for sex, then put his wife - the woman who publicly attacked Hillary Clinton for standing by her man after his repeated indiscretions - before the cameras to blame the media for being mean (hmmm... yeah, the press made him bash gay marriage for being a bigger threat to society than Hurricane Katrina while he knew he'd committed repeated adultery with a hooker). But please don't judge David Vitter's marriage, his wife begs, it's only for the Vitter's to judge our marriages.

The jerk wouldn't even answer questions.

Nice leopard dress. Read the rest of this post...

Bush is for his generals before he's against them

Bush has a developed a pattern of using, then abusing military leaders. See, Bush himself never, ever bears any responsibility for the failure in Iraq. It's not his fault. Ever. Dan Froomkin explains:

President Bush says that he should be trusted on military issues because he listens to his commanders. But he has a tendency to celebrate his generals when they're providing him political cover -- then stick a knife in their backs when they're no longer of any use to him.

Last week, Bush rejected any blame for the chaos that ensued in Iraq after the March 2003 invasion. So whose fault was it? Bush pointed the finger at Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command chief at the time. "My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes," Bush said.

That's the same Tommy Franks to whom Bush awarded a Medal of Freedom in 2004.

And when virtually all of Bush military line of command, including the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed his "surge" proposal late last year, Bush responded not by listening, but by removing the top two commanders responsible for Iraq and replacing them with more amenable leaders, including Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus.

Petraeus, as it happens, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post just five weeks before the 2004 election describing what he called "reasons for optimism" in Iraq. Now Petraeus is Bush's "main man." Maybe he should be watching his back.

Thomas E. Ricks writes in Sunday's Washington Post: "Almost every time President Bush has defended his new strategy in Iraq this year, he has invoked the name of the top commander, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus.

"Speaking in Cleveland on Tuesday, Bush called Petraeus his 'main man' -- a 'smart, capable man who gives me his candid advice.' And on Thursday, as the president sought to stave off a revolt among congressional Republicans, he said he wanted 'to wait to see what David has to say. I trust David Petraeus, his judgment.'"

Yet Ricks continues: "Some of Petraeus's military comrades worry that the general is being set up by the Bush administration as a scapegoat if conditions in Iraq fail to improve," he writes. "'The danger is that Petraeus will now be painted as failing to live up to expectations and become the fall guy for the administration,' one retired four-star officer said. . . .

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Ruh roh, Harry Reid is getting feisty on the Senate floor about Iraq

Reid is demanding that the Republicans stop filibustering and let the Senate vote on the Reed-Levin amendment concerning Iraq, or he's going to keep them there tomorrow and all tomorrow night debating Iraq.

UPDATE: Here's what Reid said today:

I would like to inform the Republican leadership and all my colleagues that we have no intention of backing down. If Republicans do not allow a vote on Levin-Reed today or tomorrow, we will work straight through the night on Tuesday. The American people deserve an open and honest debate on this war, and they deserve an up-or-down vote on this amendment to end it.

Given the Republican leadership's decision to block the amendment, we have no choice but to do everything we can in the coming days to highlight Republican obstruction. We do this in hopes of ultimately getting a simple up-or-down vote on this and other important amendments that could change the direction of the war.

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US military considering sending even MORE troops to Iraq

They really want to lose every seat in Congress and the White House next year. They are insane.

The U.S. military's top general said Monday that the Joint Chiefs of Staff is weighing a range of possible new directions in Iraq, including, if President Bush deems it necessary, an even bigger troop buildup.

Did you catch that cute little line at the end, "if President Bush deems it necessary?" Bush keeps saying that it's the military's decision whether we need more troops, now the military is saying it's up to Bush. So which one is it?

If Bush sends even more troops, just watch the GOP in Congress totally melt down. At least Bush and Cheney's arrogance and obstinacy are finally destroying them. Unfortunately, it's killing our troops and innocent Iraqis, hurting our military preparedness, destroying our image in the world, and letting Al Qaeda off the hook at the same time. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqi parliament still taking a month off while our troops die

From AP:

The White House on Friday appeared resigned to the fact that the Iraqi parliament is going to take August off, even though it has just eight weeks to show progress on military, political and economic benchmarks prescribed by the United States.

"My understanding is at this juncture they're going to take August off, but, you know, they may change their minds," White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

"You know, it's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August," he said, sympathetically.

Snow was reminded that U.S. troops will be continuing to fight throughout August in the heat.

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McCain top press staff quits

Sayonara, baby. The Iraq war and conservative Republicanism claim another victim. Read the rest of this post...

Adulterer rallies to GOP Hooker-Senator's side

That's nice. Another Louisiana adulterer rushes to GOP Senator David "I bought a hooker while married to my wife and criticizing other people's marriages" Vitter's defense.

Artist's rendition of Senator Vitter and his hooker:

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ACTION ALERT: GOP Sen. Kyl says he doesn't know if prostitution is a crime

GOP Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), when asked on CNN if Senator David Vitter (R-Louis.) should resign after allegations that he paid a DC hooker for some extra-marital adultery:

I don't know what it is that he has apologized for, and until it's clear that there's some kind of crime that was committed, that was of such a nature that he should resign, it seems to me that talk is a little premature.

Well, actually, Senator Kyl, we know exactly what David Vitter apologized for. He apologized for frequenting hookers here in DC while married, and prostitution in DC is illegal. As for adultery, that was traditionally a crime in this country, and certainly is a big Biblical crime (Leviticus says you should surely be put to death).

So it's time to go back to Senators Vitter and Kyl.

Call Senator Vitter's office:
Washington, D.C.
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4623
Fax: (202) 228-5061

Ask Vitter what exactly he was apologizing for - did he pay a prostitute for sex while he was married to his wife? And if he thinks his marriage is between him and his wife, then why was it okay for him to publicly speak out against the marriages of gay and lesbians couples, but it's not okay for gay and lesbian couples to speak out against the dangers of his marriage? Vitter said once that gay marriage was more dangerous than Hurricane Katrina. And what are Senator Vitter's views on adultery? Is it wrong? What are his views on prostitution? Should it remain a crime? And what is the proper punishment for a US Senator who is a criminal?

Call Senator Jon Kyl
WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE
730 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4521
Fax: (202) 224-2207

Then we need to ask Kyl why he isn't sure if prostitution is a crime. Does Senator Kyl not think prostitution should be a crime? Does he think the crime of prostitution (and adultery) is enough to merit a "family values" Senator resigning. Does Kyle oppose adultery, does he think it should be a crime? If Senator Kyl is so fond of protecting the sanctity of marriage then why did he go on CNN this morning and defend adultery and a known adulterer. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Ugh. Monday morning already.

Let's get it started. Read the rest of this post...

UK Iraq war commission to Brown: pull out now

And stand up to Bush while you are at it.

"Our withdrawal rate should be determined not by the security situation - which allows the militias, the insurgents, to determine our withdrawal - but by the state of training of the Iraqi forces," Lord Ashdown said on the BBC TV AM programme.

"If we can no longer suppress the violence, we are in a sense a target for the violence," he added. "Therefore, we need to hand this process over to the Iraqis.

"Will things get worse for a bit? They may but they are probably going to anyway. The evidence was that if we cannot suppress the violence we cannot prevent it getting worse. What we need to do is train up the Iraqis."

He said Tony Blair had "failed to use the leverage" he had to influence Mr Bush's policy in Iraq and urged Mr Brown not to make the same mistake.

"We committed the cardinal sin of these interventions, which is to have ridiculously over-ambitious aims; to recreate Washington in Baghdad, to recreate a fully-functioning Western-style democracy in a Middle Eastern country," said Lord Ashdown.

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China struggling with PR in modern world

OK, I understand China is not the only problem country in the global food business but how foolish do you have to be to blame it all on the media? Maybe they ought to be a lot more focused on the steps to modernize and gain confidence instead of this, provided they actually want to be involved in global business.

If only those doggone consumers would just quit dying.

"Some foreign media, especially those based in the U.S., have wantonly reported on so called unsafe Chinese products. They are turning white to black," said Li Changjiang, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

"One company's problem doesn't make it a country's problem. If some food products are below standard, you can't say all the country's food is unsafe," he said in comments Monday in the state-run China Daily.

Indeed...if only it was only one or two limited problems. Old fashioned communist problem management might not be the answer when working with the rest of the world. Read the rest of this post...