. . . as Hillary supporters who don’t like the fact that 2 + 2 = 4 threaten to bolt the Democratic Party unless it declares that, for this election year only, 2 + 2 = 5.

. . . as a conservative talk-show host who learned to say “Neville Chamberlain was an appeaser” in the same way a parrot learns to say “Polly wants a cracker” gets destroyed by Chris Matthews, who isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed himself. (The video is everywhere this morning, but if you want, you can see it here, along with Monty Python’s 16-second version of the same thing, a brilliant choice by John Cole of Balloon Juice.)

And here’s the Quote of the Day from Roy at Alicublog, responding to a conservative blogger’s suggestion that a McCain defeat in November would represent a reality much more complex than a mere turn away from conservatism: “Yeah, like ‘The American people actually wanted to either strangle or eviscerate (slowly, in either case) every Republican they could catch, but democracy only afforded the less satisfactory alternative of voting.’”

Well, democracy’s not perfect.

Will be Muqtada al-Sadr. Hands down. There is no other figure in Iraq with comparable stature and power. This is not very good for what remains of American goals in Iraq. Frankly, outside of rebuilding the Green Zone as a Disneyesque entertainment complex, I really do not know what concrete goals America DOES have in Iraq.

But back to Muqtada. A large part of his rise was due to direct mistakes by George Bush and Paul Bremer. When America first invaded Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr was a minor figure. However, he did come from a famous religious family. Also, his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr and older brothers had been killed by Saddam.

But American efforts to eliminate him because of some minor newspaper gave him status.

Muqtada never went into exile, and pretended to be somewhat mentally feeble, in order to survive Saddam. And here is one great pillar of his popularity. Unlike other Iraqi leaders, Muqtada never went into exile. He stayed in Iraq and shared in the dangers that faced other Shia every day. This gives him tremendous popularity.

After the initial invasion, the US went through a musical chairs game of Iraqi leaders. The first was to be Ahmed Chalabi, darling of the prowar parties in Washington and London. When he proved too odious, Ayad Allawi was installed in his place. When the Shia demanded elections, and forced America to agree to them, Ibrahim Jaafari won.

By the way, America did not want free elections, but was forced to agree after the Ayatollah al Sistani spoke a word, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s took to the streets.

In any case, Jaafari was soon followed by Nouri Al Maliki, who is presently Prime Minister.

All these men lived in exile. Chalabi, Washington and London. Al-Maliki Syria and Iran. Jaafari London. Allawi London. And here is another great mistake of the Bush administration. Historically, it is very difficult to invade a country and appoint an exile in power when a viable leader has existed underground within that country. That viable leader is Muqtada al-Sadr.

Muqtada’s father had built up an extensive social services network within the Shia community during his life, and Muqtada has maintained it, both under Saddam and American rule. In fact, since the Iraqi National government does not exist outside the Green Zone, Muqtada’s organization is the only recourse many Shia have.

Muqtada’s other great pillar of support is that he has opposed the US occupation from the beginning. In fact he has fought two pitched battles with US troops in Najaf. While his troops took great casualties in comparison to the damage inflicted on Americans, he won crucial political victories.

At first, after the American invasion, Muqtada’s power base was in Baghdad, particularly in the huge Shitte slum of Sadr city in east Baghdad.

The areas south of Baghdad were primarily controlled by The Badr Corps and people loyal to the Ayatollah al Sistani. The Badr Corps is a military organization that spent the Saddam years in exile in Iran. They entered southern Iraq on the heels of US invasion forces. Muqtada supporters were basically the poor Shia, the Middle class Shia tended to back the Badr corps and the Ayatollah al-Sistani.

However there has been a slow but steady drain of Shitte support to Muqtada’s Mahdi Army. Partly this is because Muqtada’s main pillars of support, militant opposition to the US occupation, and that he never went into exile. Another reason is that many of the middle class Shia have fled Iraq for exile in Jordon and Syria, thus reducing the power base for The Badr Corps.

And that brings us to the recent fighting this spring in Basra and Sadr City Baghdad. Billed as an attempt to restore law and order, it was actually an effort to curb the rising power of Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.

The Basra attack was at first carried out solely by Iraqi National Army troops, (which are really Badr Corps militia, there is no true Iraqi National Army) and it collapsed within three days. Iraqi Army units either deserted to the Mahdi Army or simply disappeared. US airpower and ground troops had to be called in.

A similar thing has happened a month after the Basra fiasco in Sadr City Baghdad. Again Iraqi troops took to their heels. But this time the majority of troops were American. Yet Prime Minister Maliki called a truce with the Mahdi army, without forcing any serious concessions. In both fights, Iran played a significant behind the scenes role in getting each party to talk to each other. This is something that America has never been able to do. As a side note, one of the main reasons for the American assault on the Shitte stronghold in Baghdad was to stop the daily rain of missile and mortar fire on the Green Zone. It has only been toned down, not stopped.

Muqtada al-Sadr is the one man in Iraq who has a steadily growing power base that is his own. I feel that he will take over once America leaves, and he will strike a deal with the Sunni. After all, during his battle with Americans at Najaf, the Sunni sent help.

And even if America somehow manages to kill him, he is just as dangerous as a ghost.

McCain is just an echo chamber for Bush. He says we can win the Iraq war in four years. How? We have been at it for five years and all progress has been negative. What trick does he have up his sleeve?

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=170078

By the way, we did not invade Iraq to establish Democracy, we invaded because WMD’s were a clear and present danger. Oh whoops, there were no WMD’s in the first place, that was made up. OK, so we invaded to create Democracy, and ended up midwifing what is becoming a Shitte Theocracy. Oh my gosh, the real reason was for the oil. Alas, less oil is now coming out of the ground than when Saddam ruled the place.

So Senator McCain, after five years of this public relations slide, and a steadily deteriorating situation in Iraq, how can you do better and produce victory? Specifically please!

Prescott Bush:

George Bush’s grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

George Bush today:

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Mr. Bush said. “We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Why talk with Nazis when you can cut a profit with them?

I’m sorry that one of the word’s connotations is misogynist, but the word that best describes George Bush is pussy.

Links on HRC, Edwards, pigs, literature, music, plus song of the day.

Hey, where’s Groom? You OK, friend?

While McCain’s campaign spends its time ratcheting up the fear that Obama is Muslim and preparing for that electronic lynching that our friend Clarabell Thomas complained about, the Dems ought to be expending the same amount of effort unmasking Uncle Fester as the corporate whore he really is.

The WaPo has a terrific article on McCain’s rogue’s gallery of lobbyists and shit heads, beginning with his campaign manager, Rick Davis and chief strategist Charlie Black. Black has never met a murdering dictator he didn’t love. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. This campaign is going to be uglier than a box of frogs.

if anyone doubts that race is not going to be the single most important operating factor in the Obama/McCain race, they’re kidding themselves. For all the talk about policy, about truly critical matters like Iraq, the economy, the fuel crunch and the environment, those issues are going to take a back seat to what this election is really all about–a referendum on race. From a recent Wapo article:

“For all the hope and excitement Obama’s candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed — and unreported — this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They’ve been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they’ve endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can’t fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

“The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.”

Obama may want to keep race out of the spotlight and his handlers may also decide that it is good strategy to keep him insulated from this kind of hatred. But there is no doubt that McCain’s campaign, through 527’s and his surrogates are going to do what they do best–play on people’s prejudices and fears. Which is why I think this is going to be an incredibly ugly campaign, perhaps the worst in our history. Even the Switfboat boys are ginning up, big time:

“We will attack Obama viciously on all fair issues, whether they are national security, whether they are taxes or the economy,” promised Chris LaCivita, one of the Republican strategists behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry in 2004.

LaCivita added: “At the end of the day, every individual has a right to participate in the political process whether John McCain likes it or not. It’s their constitutional right.”

This is the only way the Pugs can buck the pro-Dem trend we’re seeing, even in bright red states (Mississippi results). They have no other option because they can’t win on the merits, and we have no choice but to pray that Obama and his team are up to this formidable challenge. And that we’re evolved enough as a nation to reject such blatant hate.

I first wrote this as comment, but was asked to put it in as a post. This is in response to a commentary by some person on the Left, who was upset that Barack Obama is reaching out to those served in Vietnam. The person felt that Barack was slighting those that protested so hard against the war.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/12/1592/76497

Here is the post.

I just missed the war, but I did get spit on, In 1976, a couple of years after the war was over. And I did volunteer for the military out of a sense of duty. I supported the war then, but if I knew then what I know now, I would not have joined the Marines for the Vietnam war. But we were not all draftees forced into it.

I do remember that in 1976 nobody wore their uniform off base, and people hid the fact that they were in the military.

I think there are many former military people like me, and I think Obama is right to say something about us. Frankly, I did not expect anything.

I went to high school in the state of Wisconsin, conservative support for thee conservative government was taken for granted. In a place like that, East and West coast cities were regarded as anti American hotbeds of “Commie Pinko Fags” who were plotting to destroy America. And I totally believed that Communism was trying to conquer the world. I was 18 then. Time, exposure to different ideas and people, well I changed my mind.

Service overseas and learning other languages like Japanese, caused me to broaden my viewpoints, and so I also became an “Enemy of America”.

But if I wore my uniform off base, I also did get spit on, fists shaken at me, and so on. Yet if I had conversations with people on the right, they would praise me for being in the military, yet I had to very careful about what I said. If I alluded to anything like that people in other countries were human and decent and might oppose joining America in attacking the Soviet Union, I would have a serious problem.

Of course, you could never allude to Russians as being decent people, just having a different kind of government.

So at the age of 20 I left America, I just did not feel that anybody wanted me there. I was too different.

And that is why I firmly support Senator Obama for President. I believe he is the last chance for the US.

Obama gave a speech and gave nice platypuses to Vietnam war veterans:

One of the saddest episodes in our history was the degree to which returning vets from Vietnam were shunned, demonized and neglected by some because they served in an unpopular war. Too many of those who opposed the war in Vietnam chose to blame not only the leaders who ordered the mission, but the young men who simply answered their country’s call. Four decades later, the sting of that injustice is a wound that has never fully healed, and one that should never be repeated.

Predictably, Clorg-trooper Jerilyn Merritt goes shitwhack:

In other words, Obama intends to battle the war-hero McCain by throwing us under the bus.

And get this: she quotes a Jackson Browne lyric to anchor her moral position.

Jackson Browne? Jackson Fucking Browne?

I don’t know about Obama, but I’m throwing your musically-illiterate ass under the bus.

Pictorial evidence of difference between Clorg supporters and non-Clorg, links, Max Fucking Boot.

Lots of talk swirling around the campaign about potential Veeps for Obama, while Hilla flails away avoiding the inevitable. Ironic, no? Leftcoast and Josh take a look at potential VP candidates and the criteria which Obama should apply in choosing his Number 2.

Point: Leftcoast says: OK, conventional wisdom calls for Hlilla to be grafted to the ticket as part of a contrived kumbaya move to unite the party. There are worse choices. But if Hilla’s off the table, which I believe she is, who best serves the ticket? For me, the answer is flat-out obvious. White. Male. Southern. Military. Running Obama with a woman or another ethnic or religious minority is a compound felony in my book, further marginalizing Obama, and feeding that Pug mythology that McCain is the only patriotic choice. My bottom line is that this is no time to hold hands and road-test the Rainbow Coalition.

Back to my ideal Obama Veep. All of the attributes listed above buttress Obama’s real and perceived weaknesses, and get right to the heart of McCain’s tough talk value proposition. If the Veep is the hit man for the president, think Jim Webb. If Obama thinks he needs some “gray hair” on the ticket, I’d take a good look at Wes Clark. I’d avoid non-entities like Evan Bayh or favorite du jour Ted Strickland, and controversial characters like Michael Bloomberg, or (God save us) Diane Feinstein. Nope. We need a guy who’s been shot at, who knows what it really means to send our kids to die and who can pop Uncle Fester right in the chops when he spews that sanctimonious “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran, my friends” shit.

Counter Point: Josh Hammond says: The minute Obama announces who he has chosen as VP, everyone needs to know instantly who that person is and why he or she was chosen. No Geraldine Ferraros or Joe Liebermans this time. Obama needs to pick someone from outside Washington to complete his case for change. He needs to pick someone with “experience” and accomplishments. Finally, he needs some classic political and geographic balance or rationale.

Who then? The pool should include Clinton supporters Bob Rubin, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and Bill Clinton economy wizard, and Ed Rendell, now Governor of Pennsylvania (a must state). Among Obama supporters, Bill Richardson (for western states and Hispanic vote, and possible Secretary of State because of his Spanish language skills — wow! a bi-lingual spokesman for America?!), or Kathleen Sebelius (two-term governor of Kansas with strong Ohio roots) to hold Clinton’s woman coalition together. I would not put Webb on the short list because he is a freshman senator with some Reagan baggage. He is former classmate of Oliver North, and he was around for the Iran-Contra business. Although to his credit, Reagan did let him go because he refused to cut back on the size of the Navy. So Webb doesn’t meet my criteria. General Wesley Clark would be a good choice, but let’s hope he has brushed up on the “A” part of the media’s Q&As that hurt him four years ago.

How can Clorg quit without permanently disaffecting her most ardent, without ensuring they’ll never vote Democrat again without ache, which is their deepest desire?

Rubes, Clorg’s rubes are invested to their moral marrow, and these are the best, most preciously intense days in their lives of rubiness, and I’m not mocking them, I’m envying them.

A new friend asked me how I separate soccer and politics, and I said, Huh?

Links, plus Fleabus on The Floods.

Birthday of a great novelist.