David Corn

DC,

This is the part when I can say:
"Now the fun part starts." without it hurting anything.

Thanks for all of your work.

Roh-OH Scooby-do -

Sen. Obama Rewrites History, Claims He Hasn’t Been Planning White House Run from HRC's "The Fact Hub" -

In third grade, Sen. Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President':

Sen. Obama’s third grade teacher, Fermina Katarina Sinaga, "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Obama wrote 'I want to be a president,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Sen. Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President':

"Iis Darmawan, 63, Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07]

***********

The fetid stench of crass insanity and desparation - Kindergarten and the third grade?

This will blow up in HRC's face.

I love it.

Obama "is a sleazy, hypocritical, incompetent sham."
-Corn's characterization of Clinton's attacks on Obama.

I don't mind if the Democratic candidate puts this kind of hit on the Republican candidate becuase the Republicans have been winning elections with this gambit for decades. BUT I am not happy with the Clinton campaign for doing this to a Democratic co-runner. The attack is grounded in a fundamental weakness, Obama's lack of experience, so it WILL resonate. Obama needs to sight the experience of Clinton, Rumsfeld and Cheney and demonstrate where that got us.

Thanks for the post(s) Corn, 3! today. Good job.

You're not constructive or sincere. You go find someone else to exchange witty insults and derogatory characterizations with.

Says Neil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey Neil, who is trowing (non) witty insults and derogatory characterizations?

Mitt is running against Massachusetts liberals. F*ck him and F*ck Happy too.

Happy is still a doucheb*g.

Happy is still a douchb*g.

Happy is a still a doucheb*g. Who wants odds on how many comments before he starts complimenting himself on his superior politics, enterprising, or public service.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wouldn't lower myself to your level~

David,

It is indicative when the goals are winning to the exclusion of doing or saying the right thing that people have to drive up negative emotions against the opposition, whomever it might be.

Hillary supporters are behaving little differently than a mob might burn an effigy of the object of their scorn.

They're only vocalizing it so far, but it is a short trip to more overt acts of hatred. More intense rhetoric and ridiculous, unfounded acusations are sure to follow.

-T

Hillary Attacks Obama's Elementary School Record

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

I know I alluded to this earlier but Hillary Clinton's latest attack on Barack Obama is so foolish, it deserves a stand-alone piece.

Yesterday, I got an email from a regular reader noting that Clinton's campaign had referenced in a press release an essay Obama wrote when he was in kindergarten, titled, "I Want To Become President." In all sincerity, I assumed the email was a joke, parodying the intensity of the campaign season. There's simply no way, I thought, that Clinton would reference something Obama wrote before first grade. I didn't even make a note of it, because I assumed it was a joke.

*****

I don’t remember writing any essays in kindergarten. I remember some finger-painting, duck duck goose, but no written essays. Do kindergarteners write essays these days?

It is telling that somebody did such a complete background on Barak. My goodness - what next reports of paste eating? (from either side)

That kind of thing creeps me out. It is so un-serious that the seriousness seems odd - almost cult like. I hear the Clintonites and their devotion doesn't sound all that different from the Paulites (like EW!)

I have yet to warm up to HRC - this grade school info doesn't help.

Although I bet someone cheated at dodge-ball or some such thing.

It is an insult to the people - the politicians all get to dodge the issues when this crud is offered up by the MSM.

From a DCCC email:

"We told you this weekend about Rove's recent lies, his claims that Congress pushed the President to war in Iraq in a ludicrous attempt to erase the fact that President Bush started this disastrous, failed war."

*****

Um, Rove must have forgotten that in 2003 the GOP was in control of the congress?

If he is trying to hang the war crimes on congress - it would be the GOP majority congress of 2003 - so why does the MSM not bother? Simple questions plain and simple. Hmmmmmm

CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE

Dec. 4, 2007 – 12:10 a.m.

Political Trivia for Dec. 4

How many U.S. House and Senate incumbents were defeated in primary elections in 2006?

a) 3

b) 4

c) 5

d) 6

Answer: a) Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman , D-Conn., and Reps. Cynthia A. McKinney, D-Ga., and Joe Schwarz, R-Mich., were defeated in primary elections in 2006. Lieberman lost to Democrat Ned Lamont but recovered to win re-election in November as an independent. McKinney was defeated in a runoff election by Democrat Hank Johnson in Georgia’s 4th District. Schwarz lost to Republican Tim Walberg in Michigan’s 7th District.

*****

Not conclusive but could the incumbent issue be a large part of the problem? How can we change the status quo when we can't change the players?

Because the surge is working "according to Murtha" the war cannot be considered a "failed war".

Now that public opion is turning positive in favor of the war the Dems will once again change tune and declare they were all for it from the beginning.

This has really got to burn you libs up~~~

Mr. Rove said the president just received the best possible gift from the House's most vocal war critic, Rep. John P. Murtha, who just returned from a trip to Iraq and stated flatly: "The surge is working."

"It was a remarkable moment last week when Jack Murtha, who said the war is lost, the surge won't work, comes back and says the surge is working. You know that there's real progress on the ground when the most ardent, acerbic critic of the president's policy says in essence, 'I was wrong,' " Mr. Rove said.

Hovering at a dismal 29 percent approval rating just as Gen. David H. Petraeus, ground commander in Iraq, testified before Congress on the surge in September, Mr. Bush has since jumped to 36 percent in a poll late last month.

Bush is going up-Dems going down

Why facts matter

SUMMARY: In an essay, PolitiFact editor Bill Adair explains why facts are important — and why we nitpick.

PolitiFact, our Web site that fact-checks the presidential candidates, reached a milestone last week. We’ve now checked more than 200 claims from the candidates and used our Truth-O-Meter to declare whether they were accurate.

We’ve explored Rudy Giuliani’s boasts about reducing crime in New York (we found them False to Mostly True, depending on the claim), Hillary Clinton’s accusation that the Bush administration cut health research (False) and John Edwards’ claim that nearly half the apple juice in the United States comes from China (Mostly True).

We’ve explored serious topics, such as who was first to oppose the Iraq war, and less serious ones such as the lengthy form to apply for college financial aid. We have assessed Bill Richardson’s claim that history shows that fences don’t work (Half True, because of the effectiveness of the Berlin Wall) and we checked Dennis Kucinich’s assertion that more people have seen UFOs than support the Bush presidency (False; “Bush beats aliens by 16 points,” our headline said).

*****

We can handle the truth. Nitpicking is an accusation of accuracy - little or big things - the truth is the truth.

“Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.”
~ Quintus Septimius Tertullianus (160 AD - 230 AD), Adversus Valentinianos

U.S. Intel Possibly Duped by Iran

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 9:38 AM

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman

A highly controversial, 150 page National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear programs was coordinated and written by former State Department political and intelligence analysts — not by more seasoned members of the U.S. intelligence community, Newsmax has learned.

Its most dramatic conclusion — that Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure — is based on a single, unvetted source who provided information to a foreign intelligence service and has not been interviewed directly by the United States.

Newsmax sources in Tehran believe that Washington has fallen for “a deliberate disinformation campaign” cooked up by the Revolutionary Guards, who laundered fake information and fed it to the United States through Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers posing as senior diplomats in Europe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Could it be Valerie Plames buddies at the CIA are playing for polictical payback here?

Early Morning Jokes
by Tony Peyser

In a stunning reversal of this administration's conventional wisdom, ABC News reports that an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Iran shelved its nuclear weapons program over four years ago. The White House reacted swiftly to this development Monday as a spokesman summoned reporters and said, "... damn it!"

Mitt Romney is set to give a speech on his religious beliefs. It's tentatively titled, "Mormon, Is That You?"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lost a constitutional vote that would have let him stay in power indefinitely. President Bush and Vice President Cheney are no fans of his but, in a rare joint press conference, tearfully expressed disappointment for any leader not being allowed to have an endless reign.

Political monitors in Moscow insist the recent Russian vote was unfair. It was kind of odd how well Putin's United Russia Party did in both Florida and Ohio.

Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif risks disqualification from Pakistan's crucial parliamentary elections after an official rejected his nomination papers. President Pervez Musharraf said Sharif can't run for office but could run for the border and, as a former prime minister, would be entitled to a reasonable head start.

A newspaper has reported that eight men say they either had sex with Sen. Larry Craig or were targets of sexual advances by the Idaho lawmaker. Craig released this statement: "I am not gay. I never have been gay ... but that TV show 'Ugly Betty' is so gay. 'Desperate Housewives' is, too. And Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Keanu Reeves, and Jodie Foster are all gayer than the first two seasons Tom Selleck did on 'Magnum P.I.'"

Don Imus returned to the airwaves Monday eight months after he was fired for a racially charged remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Two of his first show's guests were political analysts James Carville and Mary Matalin. In related news, a recent Zogby poll says most Americans feel Carville and Matalin are more offensive than Imus' remarks about "nappy-headed hos."

And finally: Condoleezza Rice has offered former deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz a coveted position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board. The former World Bank lothario said he looks forward to working closely with Rice and hopes "she's recently hired some sexy assistants with ample booties who are looking to hook up with an aging sugar daddy love muffin."

Many in the media are crowing about The Times’ recognition that the surge in Iraq has been successful. For so long, The Times printed article after article that we were losing the war on the various Iraqi battlefields.
What caused many in the media to chortle was the Times editorial of November 30th which opened with "There has been so much horrible news out of Iraq for so long that it is natural to celebrate better news. Sending another 30,000 American troops into Iraq has made life better: attacks are down, as are the number of American and Iraqi casualties."

Written by Ed Koch ~ liberal Democrat

We can handle the truth. Nitpicking is an accusation of accuracy - little or big things - the truth is the truth.

New Republic Disavows Iraq Diarist's Reports

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 4, 2007; Page C01

After nearly five months of mounting criticism, the New Republic yesterday disavowed reports about petty wartime cruelty in Iraq, saying the magazine had lost faith in the Army private who wrote them.

"We cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them," Editor Franklin Foer wrote of the dispatches by Scott Thomas Beauchamp. "Without that essential confidence, we cannot stand by these stories."

Army Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp, with wife Elspeth Reeve, had written about wartime cruelty from Iraq. (From Elspeth Reeve)

Foer said in an interview that he kept waiting for Army investigative documents -- some promised by Beauchamp -- that never arrived. "I hope our investigation and honest admissions of failure will reassure our readers that we're committed to the highest standards," he said.

The magazine's admission came as National Review Online acknowledged that two postings it carried from Lebanon by W. Thomas Smith Jr., a former Marine, were "misleading." One involved a report that 4,000 to 5,000 Hezbollah gunmen had "deployed to the Christian areas of Beirut in an unsettling 'show of force.' " No other journalist in Lebanon has reported seeing such a deployment.

The Democrats Jack Abramoff?

Democratic Fundraiser, Norman Hsu, Indicted in NY

AP ^ | December 4th, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns. In the 15-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government accused the 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme. The government said Hsu also violated federal campaign finance laws by making contributions to various political candidates in the names of others.

Perhaps some good news for the average Joe Shmoe?
********************
Credit card execs defend rate policies
WASHINGTON - Credit-card executives on Tuesday deflected congressional criticism of their practice of using falling credit scores to charge customers higher interest rates.

Industry critics say it's another example of abusive, confusing credit-card practices that can push consumers deeper into debt.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, said customers who consistently pay on time are getting whacked by credit-card issuers that raise such rates without an adequate warning or a clear notice.

"The bottom line for me is this: when a credit card issuer promises to provide a cardholder with a specific interest rate if they meet their credit card obligations, and the cardholder holds up their end of the bargain, the credit-card issuer should have to do the same," he said Tuesday.

Levin is holding out the club of possible legislation to spur voluntary changes by the industry.

Israel to build homes in east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM - Israel said Tuesday it is seeking bids to build more than 300 new homes in a disputed east Jerusalem neighborhood, drawing Palestinian condemnations that the move is undermining the newly revived peace talks held last week in Annapolis, Md.

A Housing Ministry spokesman said 307 units would be built in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
********************
Isreal keeps acting like a child who throws rocks at a bee hive and then cries to his parents how the mean bees attacked him. You can't expect peace if you continually provoke the other side.

I think the thread is about Senator Clinton's attacks on Senator Obama. Mr. Corn, your analysis is absolutely spot on, perhaps the most lucid I have read on this or any other subject.

I think the good Captain nailed it a couple of comments ago. This action on the part of Senator Clinton and her team brings back memories of the FBI files, the Senate Travel Office, the billing records, the secret health care meetings, etc., all of which were her doing and not President Clinton's.

Senator Clinton may have much to offer the American populace, but candidness is not one of them. She does herself a great disservice in her current actions.

It seems that the one thing she and her staff do possess is a collective tin political ear.

I think the thread is about Senator Clinton's attacks on Senator Obama.
DC has always been good about us going off on our own tangents as long as we don't spam, post giant walls of text, or become overly hostile. There's usually only so much that can be said about a subject before repetition sets in.
Senator Clinton may have much to offer the American populace, but candidness is not one of them.
Truer words were never spoken. I still don't get the people that find her trustworthy. She has always given me that same impression of putting up a facade as those bimbos you see competing on the lots-of-woman-competing-for-one-man un-reality shows.

I think it is a good thing for the candidates to get into a scrum. It is one of the only ways to penatrate the mask they wear to hide the insincerity of humanity within.

"One of the hardest tasks of leadership is understanding that you are not what you are, but what you're perceived to be by others."
~ Edward L. Flom

I can unite the world on climate, says Rudd

AUSTRALIA will take on a highly ambitious and activist role on the international stage under the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who has unveiled a grand plan for uniting the world on climate change.

Heralding a significant shift in foreign policy from the Howard era, Mr Rudd - former diplomat and China expert - told the Herald yesterday he intended to use Australia's new position as a member of the Kyoto club to "bridge the gap" between developed and developing countries on future emissions controls.

In his first newspaper interview as Prime Minister, Mr Rudd admitted it was an enormous challenge but said Australia had a "national and international responsibility to the next generation" to do everything it could to counter the threat of climate change.

*****

The grand hopes of new leadership.

I am waiting to hear some of that positive hope, the dreams for a better future - if not for us then for the next generation.

The problems we face are daunting but we should always have hope for a better tomorrow.

"She's adopting a whatever-it-takes strategy, mixing legitimate criticisms with truth-stretching blasts. And her campaign aides have adopted a we-must-destroy-him mindset that they justify by viewing Obama as a political lowlife."

And finally we see Clinton for what she is. I've seen this attitude come out all over the message boards and blogs in the last month or so, and this explains it. Die-hard supporters tend to reflect their campaigns' personalities. While Obama partisans are posting up a storm and attacking every Clinton attack as quick as they can, Clinton partisans are mostly just hosing Obama with as many negative words as they can think of, insisting they wouldn't vote for him in the general, etc. You would think he was Karl Rove or something.

David ....mi amigo...puleeeze...

why do we Clintonites despise Barry's campaign?

Before I get to "kindergarten gate"....

Lets begin with week 1 - when Gibbs first let loose with the phrase 'sold out the Lincoln bedroom'...

then let's move to the two memos from this summer -
1. Punjab
2. President Clinton -

The 2nd one was the most vile thing id ever seen in a Dem primary - by far and by leaps and bounds...
It was barely mentioned in the media - who of course, dont ever even question anything written about the Clintons as possibly being slanderous - {I mean after charges of coke dealing, rape and murder were accepted as being "in bounds".by the pundit crowd...whats a lil character assassinating memo?]

oh then Barry said it was a 'staffer" mistake.....right...

And still the media and pundit world pretend that the Obama camp [Obambie By god!} is sooo going gentle into that dark night...

Good Lord . What a crock.

Ill just mention one more. The repeated use of the Gerthian line that the Clintons have had a "20 year plan"...you know the...

""I'm not in this race to fulfill some long-held plan or because it was owed to me," .....bit...

We both know that Taylor Branch, the so called source for this line has said that idea is "preposterous"...I think was his word...

then obama said it again last saturday at an event.

First, i thought it was just another slimy dig that no one would call Obama on....again......

and just like the other time Obama said this - Hillary's Fact Check came out with the list - now for the second time - of obama saying these odd things -to people from when he was from the ages of 3 to 30 about how one day...he would rule the....be President...someday...

Again -Team Clinton had printed this same list to jibe at and ridicule and laugh at Obama before. when he had used that line...but team Barry said nothing then...

I wonder....no kidding... if Obama repeated this jibe -this disproved insult - that is KNOWN to OFFEND Clintonites - the day before his new "Hillary Attacks" website goes up - kNOWING that Team Clinton would answer with this same list for the third time running...

Was "kindergarten gate" possibly a set up?...

or a coincidence?

Whats really more likely? Ill bet ya a dollar they did used that line as a trap. Pretty smooth indeed...

Note. They didnt have the astronaut wisecracks ready the first time that the Clinton campaign posted this info about Obamas life long plan to be Prez....or the second...who knows...maybe it took em two -three weeks to come up with the killer come back. lines...

You think they didnt notice this list the first two times the Clinton campaign made it public?

I mean, do these guys strike you as being fast on their feet with the funny?.. maybe it took them some time to write the response now heard round the net....comedy IS hard after all...

And of course,with it being debuted at www.hillaryattacksobama.com - the humorless dumb asses in the msm and at kos bought it as a Clinton "desperate" attack...because thats how Obama presented it and thats just what those two groups WANTED it to be...

Let me tell ya my funny pal, everyone who is "shocked...just shocked" by "hillarys attack" on the young Barry, is either totally humorless,
lying their balls off,
or dumb as dirt {aka patrick healy}- i
f they think that team Clintons putting the kid obarry stuff out wasnt meaning to -

ridicule, make fun of or get ya to laugh AT -
Barry 'Ive always wanted to Rule the World" Obama.

Puleeeeeze.......

This bs is in the same spirit as Walter Shapiro getting all bent outta shape about Gores Union label joke...which his being funny and all...ill never understand...except...
then and now just may prove...people hear what they wanna hear...especially Hillary haters and the clowns in the "500".

And then they spin this as more proof of just How Horrible and Ugly and mean spirited is the "Clinton Attack Machine".
And guess what? The media and pundit crowd go....well, of course.."everybody" knows...thats what the Clintons do....

The "everybody" of course being the entire 500 media crowd who have -mostly falsely and almost always unfairly- attacked and slandered the Clintons every chance they have had since nineteen and ninety two...

We're goin to the mattresses pal...goin to the mattresses...

----------

Im back from the sea....congrats on your new gig...we're puttin the band back together...prepare to make funny and tell some jokes up in NH.

Tim

ph one or...just like"everybody" is now pretnding that Hillary meant 'fun' like in -

the ait it "fun" to kill puppies madame lafarge or mad as a hatter kinda way....

instead of the sarcastic and put upon way that Mrs Clinton meant by the use of the words "fun season"

any thinking or honest person who actually wanted to understand what mrs Clinton meant would of heard that

But again people hear what they want to hear.

Wasnt that the story with gore in 2000 and isnt that exactly why we gots a war a-goin' on over there far, far away?....

Its deja vu all over again - except this time we have...

ann kornblut playin' the role of Cici Connaly
and
patrick healy playin the role of katherine seelye

and back -as always,
GE's chris matthews playin the "ass"

pardon my typos!
----------

one more...just like"everybody" is now pretending that Hillary meant 'fun' like in -

the aint it "fun" to kill puppies madame lafarge or mad as a hatter kinda way....

instead of the sarcastic and put upon way that Mrs Clinton meant by the use of the words "fun season"

any thinking or honest person who actually wanted to understand what mrs Clinton meant would of heard that

But again people hear what they want to hear.

Wasnt that the story with gore in 2000 and isnt that exactly why we gots a war a-goin' on over there far, far away?....

Its deja vu all over again - except this time we have...

ann kornblut playin' the role of Cici Connaly
and
patrick healy playin the role of katherine seelye

and back -as always,
GE's chris matthews playin the "ass"

And here comes a furious Clintonista now.

First, the comment on the Lincoln bedroom. Clinton tried to pin the comments of David Geffen to Obama's campaign by falsely claiming he was Obama's "campaign finance chair." In a memo exposing this distortion, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs pointed out that Geffen used to be a major fundraiser for Clinton, and that he slept in the Lincoln bedroom. Both of these things are true, no? Along with the fact that a number of other major bundlers also slept in the Lincoln bedroom, whether or not it was because of their fundraising? Nonetheless, Obama criticized the handling of the incident by his own staff.

The Punjab memo was a poor attempt at humor, but it contained no factual inaccuracies and hardly strikes at anything particularly personal. Again, Obama apologized and harshly criticized his research team for the tone of the memo.

I've no idea about the President Clinton memo from the summer, and google is coming up empty - could you perhaps provide a link so we can judge the merit of your arguments that despite not being covered by the media at all and not being picked up by the Clinton campaign to hammer Obama it is the "most vile thing ever"?

And the if Gerthian "20-year plan" claim is false, you better believe that it isn't an much of an embellishment. Hillary was planning well before Bill's time in the WH was up. She had to establish residency in NY to secure a Democratic senate seat, after all. You *know* that that was a calculated move.

As for the kindergarten "setup," first of all it's the Clinton campaign's fault for including it in a memo. The Obama campaign only responded when it got some media play. The media only gave it play when Clinton went after Obama in a bare-knuckle manner starting Sunday and by your own admission released it for the third freakin' time in only a few weeks (talk about repeated lack of judgment!)

To date, Clinton has called Obama "naive and irresponsible (first attack of the primary)," a "inexperienced" "talker" rather than a "doer" who raises "false hopes" and engages in "dirty tricks" to win. Her campaign director has said he "says one thing and does another." So we can see exactly how innocent the Clinton campaign has been in all of this..

And Clinton didn't call it a "fun season," she noted that everyone had been attacking her and said "well now the fun part starts." Apparently accentuating "fun" in the sentence.

Yes, on balance I can clearly see why the Clintonistas have the right to "despise Barry's campaign" without being totally lacking in perspective. How dare he or some member of his campaign indirectly bring up the Lincoln bedroom (true) or her carpetbagging (true)? How dare he make fun of a silly attempt to attack him, thus resulting in widespread ridicule? DOESN'T HE KNOW WHO SHE IS!!?!?

I can understand the 'he said' v. 'she said' dynamics of campaigning - and even appreciate it to a certain degree. My problem with Clinton's attacks are that they are smug, petty, and small. I don't mind a little sparring. I, for one, am not the least bit disappointed or disillusioned that a community organizer from the South Side of Chicago knows how to play tackle. I am disappointed, and honestly, a bit disheartened, to see Clinton so easily knocked off course.

Personally, I think Clinton should call a timeout and reset the game plan. It's becoming increasingly obvious to even the most distant observers that she's forgotten what the real prize is. The goal here is not to destroy 'barry' or whatever you're calling him these days. It's winning the Presidency. The sooner you realize you aren't entitled to win, the sooner you'll stop making textbook mistakes.

Sadr tells Bush to get out of Iraq

RADICAL Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr overnight blasted US President George W. Bush for signing a deal with Baghdad that ensures a long-term American military presence in Iraq.

"I say this to the evil Bush - leave my country," Sadr said in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

"We do not need you and your army of darkness," he said.

"We don't need your planes and tanks. We don't need your policy and your interference. We don't want your democracy and fake freedom. Get out of our land."

Sadr's salvo comes a week after the US president and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a deal ensuring a long-term presence of US forces in the country.

Mr Bush and Mr Maliki decided to end the UN mandate for foreign troops' presence in Iraq in 2008 and replace it with a bilateral pact between the two countries for an American military presence beyond 2008.

Sadr, known for his anti-American stance, also criticised the other top Shiite parties in Iraq, Mr Maliki's Dawa and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC).

"Where is Dawa? Where are the brothers of Badr?" he asked, referring to the SIIC militia.

"Iraqi parliament and the government ... you must demand that the occupant leave. Today the Sadrists are oppressed and by our brothers as well as the occupant," the cleric said.

Sadr's political bloc recently walked out of the governing Shiite alliance because of differences with the coalition partners.

******

All the blather about how well the surge is working means nothing if it is not sustained. Sadr might be responsible for more of what is going on than he is given credit.

The third grade and kindergarten still makes me chuckle a bit. Not just petty but small minded in every sense of the word.

"We don't need someone who says one thing and does another, somebody who talks a good game but doesn't have the courage of their convictions."

That's actually what disappointed me about Bill Clinton.

well trojan - since youre fine with gibbs style re-trashing with disproved right wing garbage like "selling the lincoln bedroom" - there probably is no hope for ya - but if you have a soul you may find it redeemed - if you are repelled by this work that even obama had to apologize for....

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0607/Oppo_bounty.html
from politico 6/15
Oppo bounty

More Obama oppo is online today, including a detailed document on Bill Clinton and Ron Burkle (.pdf) and a story, which turned out to be false, about Bill Clinton giving a paid speech on 9/11/06. The extent of the Clintons' financial dependence on Burkle is certainly a story, and one that's been written; but there is something about these attacks, including stuff about the Lincoln Bedroom, that brings you right back to the good old VWRC.