"Malleable Matt Lauer"

"Malleable Matt Lauer"
The Anchoress seems a little smoked: Karl Rove and Matt Lauer apparently went at it today about whether "Bush lied" about WMD. Lauer has decided he will stick to the narrative established by the media and Democrat party: Rove: There were 110 Democrats who voted for the Iraq War resolution. 67 of those Democrats, including John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, on the floor of the Congress said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. So, he may be able to dismiss it in one snarky line, but...

John Edwards says would not accept VP nomination
Las Vegas (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said on Thursday he would not accept the nomination for U.S. vice president as he did four years ago. Barack Obama Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, dropped out of the 2008 race that is still being contested by the two remaining Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, to see who represents the party in the November 4 general election. Edwards was picked as Running Mate with Democratic presidential...

Time's Halperin Apologizes For Saying Edwards "Thinks Obama Is Kind Of A Pussy"
Fishbowl DC reported this morning that Time 's Mark Halperin "has a filthy, dirty mouth," quoting from his interview yesterday with Sirius Radio's Bill Geddie: BILL GEDDIE: Haven't we heard all along that [John Edwards] doesn't like [Hillary Clinton], haven't we heard this? Mark Halperin: Yes, that's right. And I can tell you, he's really skeptical of her ability to be the kind of president he wants. But, he kinda thinks Obama is..he thinks Obama is kind of a pussy.He has real questions...

George Bush: The Comeback Kid
In the past year I have hazarded a number of political predictions, some of which (like the prediction that in a McCain-Obama matchup the Iraq War would play for the Republicans) panned out, and some of which (like the prediction that Hillary Clinton would easily win the Democratic nomination) didn't. Now I would like to enter these treacherous waters again and venture another prediction: within a year of the day he leaves office, and no matter who succeeds him, George W. Bush will be a...

Jesse Ventura: MSNBC Tried to Shut Me Up
Ventura: Well, the great example is myself. When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. I was the voice of the independent. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox got in a bidding War for me. MSNBC won. I went to do my show, they were putting together a five-day-a-week show for me, and then all of a sudden, a phone call came to one of my subordinates, and they said, "Is it true that the Governor doesn't support the War in Iraq?" This was right before, as the Iraq War was going on, getting...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,382
As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. Military had died in the Iraq War since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes nine Military civilians killed in action. At least 3,478 Military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the Military's numbers. The AP count is two fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST. Since the start of U.S. Military operations in Iraq, 31,716...

The War's End?
The juxtaposition of David Brooks and Peter Beinart both opining that nobody cares about Iraq any more right before a New York Times poll came out revealing that "more people cite the Iraq War as the most important issue facing the country than cite any other matter" sure is odd. Equally odd, in many respects, is the logic Beinart used to reach his conclusion: Last month, Katharine Q. Seelye of the New York Times live-blogged the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. As the...

My first post dedicated to Thomas Friedman. Re: history won't be a very kind judge
I’m going to make a prediction: historians are not going to look kindly on the U.S. War in Iraq. First, a brief digression. Most major Foreign Policy writers in the U.S. decided to support the Iraq War. Most came to regret that decision, spending the next few years in print hemming and hawing and self-reflecting and criticizing the Bush Administration’s incompetence. (As if Bush’s lack of brilliance should have come as a surprise–they must have missed the first nine...

Jonah Goldberg: Iraq Was a Worthy Mistake
THERE'S A STRICT Taboo in the column-writing business against recycling ideas. So let me start with something fresh. The Iraq War was a mistake. I know, I know. But I've never said it before. And I don't enjoy saying it now. I'm sure that to the antiwar crowd this is too little, too late, and that's fine because I'm not joining their ranks anyway. In the dumbed-down debate we're having, there are only two sides: Pro-war and antiwar. This is silly. First, very few folks who favored the Iraq...

New Republic Editors 'Regret' Their Support of Iraq War (washingtonpost.com)
Ever since the New Republic broke with liberal orthodoxy by strongly supporting President Bush's War with Iraq, the magazine has been getting a steady stream of e-mails from readers demanding an apology. Now the left-leaning weekly has admitted that it was wrong to have backed the War based on the administration's claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. "We feel regret, but no shame. . . . Our strategic rationale for War has collapsed," says an editorial hammered out...

Even Though Bush Used False WMD Claims To Justify Iraq War, Rove Claims They Dealt With 'Reality'
In his book that was released this week, former top Bush aide Karl Rove claimed that President Bush would not have authorized an invasion of Iraq in 2003 if he had known Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. "Would the Iraq War have occurred without W.M.D.? I doubt it," Rove writes. “The Bush Administration itself would probably have sought other ways to constrain Saddam, bring about regime change, and deal with Iraq's horrendous Human Rights...

The revisionist history of the Iraq War (or how Dubya was right all alonTheg)
Image by geoftheref via Flickr Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed Democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This War has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But Democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing. Some argue that nothing that happens in Iraq will ever justify the costs. Historians will sort that out....

Brazil's Silva says Iran sanctions dangerous
Brazil's president warned Tuesday that U.S.-proposed Sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war in the Middle East. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with The Associated Press that Sanctions could isolate Iran so much that tensions would spiral out of control. And that, he suggested, might lead to war. "We don't want to repeat in Iran what happened in Iraq," Silva said, a week after rebuffing U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton's appeal for Brazilian...

AP Interview: Silva says Iran sanctions dangerous
BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil's president warned Tuesday that U.S.-proposed Sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war in the Middle East. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with The Associated Press that Sanctions could isolate Iran so much that tensions would spiral out of control. And that, he suggested, might lead to war. "We don't want to repeat in Iran what happened in Iraq," Silva said, a week after rebuffing U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton's...

Greg Mitchell: The ABC Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media
Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to ABC's Pennsylvania Democratic debate In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia. They, and their network, should hang their collective heads in shame. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Health Care and Mortgage crises, the overall state...

Real Hurt Lockers in Iraq: Life is no movie
NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AP) - American bomb disposal experts in Iraq say few people - even in Armed Forces - long knew what they did. But not anymore. Now, the U.S. Military’s explosive experts are basking in their job’s newfound fame after the Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker” took home the best picture prize at Sunday’s Academy Awards in Hollywood. But the Soldiers still have to explain they are not all like the film’s arrogant, adrenaline-junkie hero. Set in...

Top Oscars go to Iraq war drama 'Hurt Locker'
Bigelow is first woman to win best directing award

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,382 Tuesday, according to Associated Press count
As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. Military had died in the Iraq War since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes nine Military civilians killed in action. At least 3,478 Military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the Military's numbers. The AP count is two fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST. Since the start of U.S. Military operations in Iraq, 31,716...

Leon T. Hadar: Victory in Iraq at Last (Not!)
Many neoconservatives and the politicians and pundits who love them have abandoned the we've-turned-the-corner-in-Iraq story plot - or the-next-six-months-will-prove-critical-in-Iraq expectation game - a long time ago. But when it comes to trying to salvage their Iraq-War narrative, some hard-core neocons would resort to almost anything, including to coning us -- and deluding themselves (hallucination being a familiar trait among members of the Faith-based community) -- that the recent...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,382
As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. Military had died in the Iraq War since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes nine Military civilians killed in action. At least 3,478 Military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the Military’s numbers. The AP count is two fewer than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST. Since the start of U.S. Military operations in...

Thomas Friedman: Up to Iraqis Now
Thomas Friedman, who has over the years earned both enmity from the Right for his criticisms of the Iraq War and derision from the Left by his continual calls

Iraq drama 'The Hurt Locker' rules Oscars
Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" dominated the 82nd Academy Awards here Sunday, scooping six Oscars including best picture on a historic night in Hollywood. The powerful movie about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Baghdad blew away the competition, with film-maker Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman ever to win the Oscar for best director. "This really is, there's no other way to describe it, the moment of a lifetime," said Bigelow, only the fourth woman ever to be nominated for the best...

Obama holds bipartisan meeting to push climate bill
Source: Green Technology Daily President Barack Obama met with 14 senators from both parties at the White House on Tuesday as his administration stepped up efforts to win bipartisan support for a comprehensive Climate and energy bill that has languished in Congress for six months. Among the senators at the meeting were John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Democrat and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent, who are crafting a bill that targets a 17 percent...

Matt Lauer Picks & Chooses "consensus"
“Earlier today, I ordered America’s Armed Forces to strike Military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British Forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its Military capacity to threaten its neighbors” – President William Jefferson Clinton 12/16/98 Karl Rove and Matt Lauer apparently went at it today about whether “Bush lied” about WMD. Lauer has decided he will stick to the...

Matt Lauer Gets Combative with Karl Rove on Today
In the final and easily most combative portion of Matt Lauer's three-part exclusive interview with Karl Rove, the Today co-anchor assaulted the former White House advisor, on Tuesday's Today, with accusatory charges on the run-up to the war in Iraq to the handling of Hurricane Katrina, to his role in the CIA leak scandal. The most volatile moments came during the Iraq and Katrina topics where Lauer's line of questioning began with reading a harsh line from a Rove critic, usually one of his...