Category: Politics

Well said, Josh:

And along those lines, I wanted to finish this post by flagging something ominous that keeps coming up in the Israeli press. There’s a mix of public and private communications going on between Jerusalem and Damascus. Israel is trying to assure Damascus that they don’t plan or want to expand the war to include Syria. Syria is clearly worried that they will and has their troops on full alert. Israel is also warning in no uncertain terms that Syria getting involved will spark massive retaliation.

But there are persistent signs that the US is egging Israel on to bring the war to Damascus.

…

The world has sat by for six years and let Hizbullah’s anamolous position in south Lebanon be Israel’s problem. Whether their response was wise or just, I’ll set aside for the moment. It’s not about totalitarianism or Afghanistan or Iraq, at least not in an operational sense, or dingbat fantasies about Freedom and Terror. But there do appear to be forces in Washington — seemingly the stronger ones, with Rice just a facade — who see this whole thing as an opportunity for a grand call of double or nothing to get out of the disaster they’ve created in the region. Go into Syria, maybe Iran. Try to roll the table once and for all. No failed war that a new war can’t solve.

I really hope Josh is wrong about the US’s motives, but I fear he just might be right.

Members of a party abide by primary results. There is no such thing as an “petitioning Democrat.” If there was, [Lieberman] could accept the Republican endorsement and run as a “Republican Democrat.”

Indeed.

UPDATE: Funny comment in the Atrios thread on this topic:

“What the hell is a “petitioning Democrat?”

It’s kinda like a compassionate conservative.

Nice to know that some things are too egregious even for this Supreme Court. Per the WaPo:

The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions violate U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of war prisoners.

In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized by any act of Congress and that their structure and procedures violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949.

Now comes the fun part. Will the Bush adminsitration actually listen to the Supreme Court?

Ah Digby, how well you put it:

Here’s the plan. First, the Democratic terrorists are going to kick Lieberman’s ass. After that, they are going to kick the Republican party’s ass. And finally they will kick bin Laden’s ass. We didn’t create this hard core political environment, the Republicans did, with the help of self-serving Dems like Lieberman. Now somebody has to clean up all these messes. The crazed Democratic terrorists who are willing to cast aside all morality by ruthlessly supporting a primary challenger (who is not a travelling Deadhead, but rather a middle of the road self made millionaire) seem to be the only ones who are willing to do it.

I just hope you’re right.

Thw Washington Note has been flooded with guest posts this week, and this afternoon another excellent one went up: If Jack, Bobby, and Kenny Had Breakfast Today. Here’s a taste:

Thinking about the results in the California House seat this week, if the Kennedys and [Kenny] O’Donnell were having breakfast the morning after, does anybody believe they would be saying anything like this: OK guys, Kerry got 44% in that District, and we got all the way up to 45%, and forced the Republicans to spend twice as much as us, to win the seat again?

In fact, if Jack, Bobby and Kenny had breakfast the day after that result, the FCC would not permit me on talk radio to use the exact words they would have used, but the word would go forth to Democrats everywhere: do not let this happen again.

Side note — “13 Days” is easily my favorite Kevin Costner film.