Harry's Place

The thing that bothered me in early 2003 — I was far less enthusiastic for war than, say, Joe Klein — was not WMDs or Blood For Oil. ( I think I’m at heart an isolationist.) It was the endgame. I was precisely where Shinseki was in my thinking, except, of course, he probably knew a wee bit more than mesquito.

As for your last sentence, Gene, we’ll see. Bob Woodward has made a ton of money on the fact that Bush was not, in fact, surrounded by “yes-men. (I prefer “persons of yes” but allow that not everyone can be as progressive as me.) At some point, private disagreements must resolve and an administration must put on a show of unity in public, unless Obama intends to run a seminar instead of a presidency.

Perhaps Obama is more interested in smart, competent truth-tellers than in yes-men and women who may or may not be suited for their jobs.

Well he is the messiah and everything so what would you expect?

Meanwhile his economic plan revolves around installing light bulbs and having the gov’t figure out how to make GM profitable.

Meanwhile his economic plan revolves around installing light bulbs and having the gov’t figure out how to make GM profitable.

Indeed

As for your last sentence, Gene, we’ll see. Bob Woodward has made a ton of money on the fact that Bush was not, in fact, surrounded by “yes-men. (I prefer “persons of yes” but allow that not everyone can be as progressive as me.) At some point, private disagreements must resolve and an administration must put on a show of unity in public, unless Obama intends to run a seminar instead of a presidency.

Well, I haven’t contributed to Bob Woodward’s fortune (except by subscribing to The Post) so I’ll take your word for it. Colin Powell, as secretary of state during Bush’s first term, reportedly disagreed with a a number of Bush’s key decisions. I’m wondering, though, if and (if so) how forcefully he made his case directly to the president.

Meanwhile his economic plan revolves around installing light bulbs and having the gov’t figure out how to make GM profitable.

Ha ha. But no.

Perhaps Obama is more interested in smart, competent truth-tellers than in yes-men and women who may or may not be suited for their jobs.

As discussed previously Obama has certainly appointed a cabinet and advisors who are definitely not Yes men/women. He’s smart in that he knows he needs vast experience to support him because as VP Elect Joe Biden said “The Presidency is no place for on the job traing”. He emphasised that he would always be in teh room with Obama to help him with the difficult ones.

By appointing Axelrod to his staff he’s appointed someone who is used to telling Obama “Yes” and “No”.

I don’t credit Obama with being smart, I credit his backers and promoters for guiding their protoge all the way to the White House.

MORE LIES FROM OBAMA AND NBC: SHINSEKI WAS WRONG ABOUT TROOPS AND WASN’T FIRED
OBAMA ON MTP:

Transcript of Obama video clip:

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Tomorrow, you had mentioned earlier, is when we commemorate Pearl Harbor, and so I’m going to be making announcement tomorrow about the head of our Veterans Administration, General Eric Shinseki, who was a commander and has fought in Vietnam, Bosnia, is somebody who has achieved the highest level of military service.

He has agreed that he is willing to be part of this administration because both he and I share a reverence for those who serve. I grew up in Hawaii, as he did. My grandfather is in the Punch Bowl National Cemetery. When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and, I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate — it breaks my heart, and I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home.

BROKAW: He’s the man who lost his job in the Bush Administration because he said we will need more troops in Iraq than Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld thought we would need at that time.
PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: He was right.

BROKAW: Yes, he was right. [I SAW BROKAW AGREE!]

THE NYTIMES SPREADS THIS LIE, TOO:

General Critical of Iraq War Is V.A. Chief Pick — CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, elevating the former Army chief of staff, who was vilified by the Bush administration on the eve of the Iraq war …

THIS IS UTTER BULLSHIT, ANOTHER LIE-OF-THE-LEFT… PURE UNADULTERATED PROPAGANDA!

FACT #1: THE NUMBER OF TROOPS:

* WE WON THE IRAQ WAR WITH FAR FEWER TROOPS THAN SHINSEKI WANTED:

* SHINSEKI SAID WE WOULD NEED AT LEAST 650,000 TROOPS:

WIKI:

Shinseki testified to the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee that “something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers” would probably be required for postwar Iraq. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz publicly disagreed with his estimate, Rumsfeld insisting that General Shinseki was “wildly off the mark”.[1]

* BUT WE DID DO IT WITH FAR LESS THAN THE NUMBER OFF TROOPS SHINSEKI ADVOCATED!
* AT THE PEAK OF THE SURGE WE HAD 180,000 -
* LESS THAN ONE-THIRD THE AMOUNT SHINSEKI WANTED.

FACT #2: WASN’T FIRED FOR DISAGREEING WITH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION OR RUMSFELD:

SHINSEKI WAS SCHEDULED TO RETIRE BEFORE HE MADE THE COMMENTS.

WIKI:

In the years since, his retirement is commonly reported to have been decided under pressure from opponents of his troop estimates.[citation needed]

SEE THAT FOLKS: “CITATION NEEDED”! THEY NEED ONE BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE ONE; THEY DON’T HAVE ONE BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ONE; THERE ISN’T ONE BECAUSE IT’S A FREAKIN’ LIE.

HUFFINGTON POST: “… the Shinseki myth.”

It goes like this: Then-Army Chief of General Staff Eric Shinseki was fired from his post (or “retired” as John Kerry put it in a presidential debate last year) because he testified before Congress that an occupying force of “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be required in Iraq.

The latest Democrat to spread this myth was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. Appearing on The Daily Show Wednesday night, Pelosi said:

I remind you the president – when General Shinseki said that you need 300,000 troops in order to get the job done and come home safely and soon, he was fired. So this president saying that he listens to the commanders in the field, I don’t know about that.

Here’s the problem with that story: It’s not true. Shinseki wasn’t fired. He wasn’t retired early. He retired from the Army after serving out his full term.

OBAMA IS EITHER AN IGNORANT MORON OR WILLFULLY LYING.

SINCE HE OBVIOUSLY AIN’T A DUMMIE, WE CONCLUDE HE’S A LEFT-WING LIAR. (AND BROKAW LIED, TOO – NOT AN EASY FEAT, AS HE WAS FELLATING OBAMA AT THE TIME!)

Poor Wesley Clark.

“I don’t credit Obama with being smart.”

Now there’s a critique that will leave Obama and his supporters worried and anxious.

Meanwhile his economic plan revolves around installing light bulbs and having the gov’t figure out how to make GM profitable.

Obama doesn’t install lightbulbs, he ‘changes’ them, and he ‘hopes’, and this audaciously, that GM will survive.

I’ve also heard heard rumours he’ll be appointing proctologist Dr Emma Rhoyds to the post of Surgeon-General.

The One just leaves you breatheless, doesn’t he?

Asian-Americans In The News

Anh Joseph Cao, a little-known 41-year-old community organizer and GOP attorney, knocked off nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson in a stunning upset in Louisiana’s Second District to become the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress.

Another triumph for the Party Of White Hayseeds.

I don’t credit Obama with being smart.”

Now there’s a critique that will leave Obama and his supporters worried and anxious.

Obviously, for some people, like viledouchey, the context needs elaborating. There is a difference between someone doing something and an observer saying “that’s smart”, but the action might be pure serendipity. If you believe that Obama’s decisions and plan have been mapped for him then its not ’smart’ to have carried them out.

Being ’smart’ and ‘intelligent’ aren’t exactly the same thing.

I haven’t said that Obama isn’t intelligent. He’s very smart to have chosen to get on the bus and pretend to be the driver all the way to the White House.

Anh Joseph Cao, a little-known 41-year-old community organizer and GOP attorney, knocked off nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson in a stunning upset in Louisiana’s Second District to become the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress.

A community organizer? Will Sarah Palin mock him too?

I knew you couldn’t resist it, Gene. I get Comrade Points for a beautiful set-up, no?

I knew you couldn’t resist it, Gene. I get Comrade Points for a beautiful set-up, no?

Two at the most. I can’t say I’m broken-hearted at Jefferson’s loss. I doubt many Democrats are.

Obama, speaking to Tom Brokaw, raises hopes of a cultural renaissance, with the White House as focus and inspiration.

I–you know, that, I think, is, is going to be incredibly important, particularly because we’re going through hard times. And, historically, what has always brought us through hard times is that national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look forward, that, that sense that better days are ahead. I think that our art and our culture, our science, you know, that’s the essence of what makes America special, and, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House.

Damn. I’m so proud we’ll have an articulate President after these dreadful, barren years.

Plus, we can get back to making films with the President as action-hero!

Unlike Obama, however, CAO is an “organizer” who accomplished real things of permanence which bettered the lives of his community immeasurably. And unlike Obama, CAO didn’t “move-on” to other things, but lives in the community he represents and continues to be it’s forceful advocate. No little irony that a “boat person” refugee from Vietnam who knows what it is like to REALLY live under Communism (his Father, who was at his side last night at the victory celebration is wheel-chair bound thanks to beatings sustained during nine years in a Communist “re-education” camp) unlike Obama, who drank from the Marxist fantasies of Communist party member “Uncle Frank” and other Marxists and revolutionaries (not to mention Ayres) that he sought out in college (by his own testimony).

No small wonder that the one who actually LIVED under Communism is a Republican and the one who FANTISIZES about it, a Democrat.

PS: I didn’t vote for Cao because I don’t live in his district, but just
hit NOLA.com and read some of the commentary. To say that most of us are jubilant over a victory that “smart money” said wasn’t supposed to happen in a district gerrymandered for black politicians is the proverbial understatement.

RE:There is a difference between someone doing something and an observer saying “that’s smart”, but the action might be pure serendipity. If you believe that Obama’s decisions and plan have been mapped for him then its not ’smart’ to have carried them out.
Being ’smart’ and ‘intelligent’ aren’t exactly the same thing.
I haven’t said that Obama isn’t intelligent. He’s very smart to have chosen to get on the bus and pretend to be the driver all the way to the White House.

A worm on a hook couldn’t wriggle better. :) viledouchey

No small wonder that the one who actually LIVED under Communism is a Republican and the one who FANTISIZES about it, a Democrat.

Obama fantasizes about living under Communism? You know, virgil, when you write stuff like this, you undercut your occasional thoughtful comments.

He’s very smart to have chosen to get on the bus and pretend to be the driver all the way to the White House.

You’re a bitter bitter man and a conspiracy theorist.

Anyway it’s an ugly comment, and you don’t improve your image by saying things like that. Is Obama a cleaver darky for letting the money men lead him to the white house, is that it? Is he going to “pretend” to lead now, being as incapable of actually leading as he was of running a campaign because of his racial handicap? Is that what you meant?

Touchy, touchy, are we, Gene? Got to protect that image of the Obamassiah at every turn, eh? I dunno, Gene, perhaps you’d best peruse Obama’s latest musings about Capitalism and the auto industry during one of his re-distributionist “spread the wealth” moods on today’s “Meet the Press” before you wax condescending about my fantasies about Obama’s fantasizing.

And thanks for the back-handed compliment–always only too glad for scraps from my intellectual bettors. Better to be damned with faint praise than nothing, right?

PS to Gene: Besides, our compliment was “almost” thoughtful.

Anyway it’s an ugly comment, and you don’t improve your image by saying things like that. Is Obama a cleaver darky for letting the money men lead him to the white house, is that it? Is he going to “pretend” to lead now, being as incapable of actually leading as he was of running a campaign because of his racial handicap? Is that what you meant?

No! Nowhere near it. I happen to think that Obama was chosen to be an almost perfect candidate and canvas. He has miniscule political experience in the Senate and was the right look as well as being a good speaker in the mould of a Clinton, for example. I could say things about his language patterns and why they were targetted to appeal and persuade. He is either a natural or has been well-coached. His speech hesitancy is actually great device for pacing his words and marking them. There will be studies made of his language patterns, you just wait.

I absolutely DO believe he was stage managed to get to be President and race has zero to do with it, except to secure the Black vote. Someone did their sums. I don’t think he expressed a principle or belief that he wasn’t prepared to modify to appeal to opposite sides at the same time.

Am I Bitter? No, I think that what got him to the White House will also be tough on terror and supportive of Israel. As a non-American its Foreign Policy that has the only affect on me.

Obama no more gets a free ride than any other President. He was made to be President – literally!

If you want more on language patterns. persuasion and hypnosis then look at “Ericksonian Hypnosis” and spin-off’s like “Conversational Hypnosis”. I am NOT a wacko conspiracy theorist. I studied Ericksonian Hypnosis – I know what can be done.

“At some point private disagreements must resolve and an administration must put on a show of unity in public, unless Obama intends to run a seminar instead of a Presidency”

Mesquito has hit upon THE key point, to my mind. I am always amused when Republican Presidents are accused by types like Gene of being surrounded by nothing but a tight, closed circle of yes men and not receiving the widest possible healthy range of views and proposed courses of action; yet when faced with emergency situations, the very same critics decry the “confusion” and “cacophony” of multiple voices and plead with Republican administrations to speak with “a single voice”–just like they are doing now regarding this financial meltdown.

Mesquito has hit upon THE key point…

It’s a gift, really. :D

Touchy, touchy, are we, Gene? Got to protect that image of the Obamassiah at every turn, eh? I dunno, Gene, perhaps you’d best peruse Obama’s latest musings about Capitalism and the auto industry during one of his re-distributionist “spread the wealth” moods on today’s “Meet the Press” before you wax condescending about my fantasies about Obama’s fantasizing.

You fantasize about Obama’s fantasizing? I don’t think I’m professionally qualified to comment about that. Despite your fantasies about me, I don’t believe Obama is above criticism by any means. But OTT comments about him don’t help your case.

Changing light bulbs = infrastructure construction

(Uncle Barack’s Dictionary of Newspeak)

I know all about “Ericksonian Hypnosis” Maven. When I was a kid I read every strange phase of psuedo-science books by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, from their PHD thesis on Virginia Satir’s use of grammar (which is an odd academic way to completely miss the point of her therapy), their books on Milton Erickson and finally their strange NLP stuff.

Yeah you can be somewhat persuasive by making analogies like Milton did or giving people a sense of perspective by reframing. I’ve been avoiding listening to all politicians lately, but I’m not worried that Obama is going to have Hitler’s powers over crowds.

Its a bit sad to see people still sticking to the Republican campaign’s talking points now that the voting is long over. Come on, it was all just RNC election fun, you weren’t really supposed to believe it.

Anyway, the idea that Obama is some dunce who was guided to the presidency is itself moronic. It reminds me what people said about Bush in the early days. “He’s not smart, he just has good advice”. Does advice come in envelopes marked “good” and “bad”?