I See A Sunni Uprising
(All Quotes From CNN)
So Barack Obama is stupid. Okay, maybe that’s too harsh: he is just completely clueless. According to John McCain, Barack “Steve” Obama will be tested in the first few months because of just that.
“”And the thing that probably may encourage them a little is that Sen. Obama has been wrong,” McCain said in an interview to be aired on CNN’s “The Situation Room” at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday.
“He was wrong about the surge in Iraq. He still fails to acknowledge that he was wrong. I mean, remarkable,” the Republican presidential nominee continued.”
John “Fidel” McCain has a point, I guess. Well, he would have a point if he were telling the truth. The surge did not work. In truth, the surge only appeared to work as the U.S. Government started, just prior to July of last year, to do what we should have been doing since the beginning of the war. We started paying the Iraqis. No joke. Coordinated with the surge was a Suuni uprising, what some have called the “Sunni Awakening,” and without the support of more than 50,000 U.S. paid and supported Sunni troops, the surge would’ve fallen flat on its face. Let’s be honest, though. All of that would be difficult to fit on a bumper sticker.
“When it comes to getting a political message — or perception — across to voters, the rule is usually to keep that message simple, and say it often.
One of the oft-repeated themes in this presidential campaign (including during Thursday’s vice presidential debate) is that the troop surge in Iraq worked, and it should/could/will work in Afghanistan.
This ignores some pretty stark realities on the ground in both countries.
The reduction in violence in Iraq has come about because of more than one action — and that reduction, as military leaders freely admit, is exceedingly fragile.
With General David Petraeus at the helm, the entire strategy of dealing with the insurgency changed.
Troops were moved out of their high security bases and into the communities, via Joint Security Stations (JSSs) or COPS (Combat Outposts).
This made reaction time much faster, and gave a permanent presence within trouble zones, making it tougher for the insurgents to operate as freely as they had before.
The military also engaged tribal leaders in a way they hadn’t before.
Then there was the birth of the so-called Sons of Iraq — essentially the U.S. paying tens of thousands of former Sunni insurgents to stop shooting at the Americans, and shoot at al Qaeda instead.
That’s made a massive difference — but the money will stop; the Shiite-led government doesn’t like — and even fears — the former insurgents; there aren’t enough jobs in the security forces to absorb them all, and, anyway, these guys aren’t likely to go work in a clothing store for a living.
Another factor was the walling off of entire neighborhoods to prevent sectarian killings — carving up the capital into a series of cantons. Sure, it slowed the blood flow, but the damage done to the fabric of a once vibrant and generally cooperative population is likely to be stark when those walls come down, or the Americans leave.”
Somebody, Anybody, Everybody?
Is there anything credible out there that I can lambast Barack “Steve” Obama for. Anything? He’s not an extremist muslim. He’s not a terrorist. His financial plan makes a bit more sense and he was always against a very unpopular war. Anybody with a credible complaint about this guy, post here and we’ll flesh it out. I don’t want to like him: he is by definition a creep (polititian). Can’t help it, though. Neither can the rest of the press, it seems. Washington Post:
“John McCain may long for the days when Barack Obama got the lion’s share of the media attention: Coverage of the Republican candidate has been overwhelmingly negative since the conventions ended, a study released Wednesday found.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s report illustrates how the media echo chamber can send things spiraling out of control for a candidate. It’s likely to give ammunition to people who say the press has been biased against McCain, but the organization said its findings on this were inconclusive.
“It’s quite possible for there to be elements of enthusiasm for one candidate or another,” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based think tank. “That’s a failure of professionalism if it’s there. But this report can’t suss it out.”
McCain and Obama have received an equal amount of media attention since the conventions. The project judged 57 percent of the stories about McCain as negative, with 14 percent positive. The rest were neutral.
Obama’s coverage was mixed: 36 percent positive, 29 percent negative, 35 percent neutral, the study found.”
I guess the old saying that theraks no such thing as bad press doesn’t apply here.
A Woman’s Gotta Look Good
Well, the McCain-Palin ticket has decided to dump all the clothes bought for Ms. Palin on Goodwill, promptly losing at least $50,000 of what could’ve been a $150,000 dollar donation to the poor. From the AP:
When the Republican Party decided to coordinate expenses with John McCain’s presidential campaign, who knew it would be color coordinated.
The Republican National Committee spent about $150,000 on clothing, hair styling, makeup and other “campaign accessories” in September for the McCain campaign after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the ticket as his running mate.
The RNC now says the clothes belongs to the party committee while the McCain campaign says the clothing will go to a “charitable purpose” after the campaign.
The expenses include $75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and $41,850 in St. Louis in early September. The committee also reported spending $4,100 for makeup and hair consulting. The expenses were first reported by Politico.com .
The RNC also spent $4,902 at Atelier, a stylish men’s clothing store in New York. Other purchases included a $92 romper and matching hat with ears for Palin’s baby, Trig, at Pacifier, a baby store in Minneapolis.
If you’re wondering what could’ve been so expensive, quick math approximates one $400 outfit for each of 30 days for Ms. Palin and one uber-expensive suit for McCain. I don’t know about you, but all I remember Palin wearing was that annoying, red, high-collared paintsuit thingy that Tina Fey always lampoons her in. You don’t suppose she bought 30 of those, do you?
