I'll see your crazy...

...and raise you twice as much.



Remember this?

Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. They enmesh you in a grander moment, as if history has stopped flowing passively by, and, just for an instant, contracted around you, made you aware of its presence, and your role in it. He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair. The other great leaders I've heard guide us towards a better politics, but Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves, to the place where America exists as a glittering ideal, and where we, its honored inhabitants, seem capable of achieving it, and thus of sharing in its meaning and transcendence.

- Ezra Klein, January 2008

These days, Klein is reduced to fighting back against cries comparing Obama to Hitler by examining actual Nazi-style health care.

And then there was this:

"I give all praise and honor to God," Obama began. "Look at the day the Lord has made."

Obama's wife, Michelle, opened the rally with a description of her husband that could, at moments, have been a description of Jesus Christ.

"We need a leader who's going to touch our souls. Who's going to make us feel differently about one another. Who's going to remind us that we are one another’s keepers. That we are only as strong as the weakest among us," she said, echoing biblical passages.

Winfrey also touched on Christian themes that had not been highlighted in Iowa.

"It's amazing grace that brought me here," she began, adding that she was "stepping out of my pew" - television – to engage in politics.

It isn't enough to tell the truth, Winfrey said. "We need politicians who know how to be the truth."

- Politico, November, 2007

When you decide to engage in a high-stakes poker game called My Saviour is Better Than Your Saviour, expect blowback.

Does this excuse the right-wing extremism that's been going on? No.

Does it (at least partially) explain it? Yes.

The Obama administration has been busy throwing everybody and his dog - including his so-called progressive base - under the bus for years yet his staunch followers blog about how they will bow to his genius, how they cry every time the man gives a speech, and how he can stop a child's cries. Oh. The weeping!

And then they wonder how some right-wingers have come to be so crazed?

Bush had his 30-percenters; people for whom he could do no wrong.

Obama has his too. And they're just as fanatical. They might not be packing heat and making death threats, but they're equally as out of touch with reality.

You expected "unity"? "Bi-partisanship"? "Post-partisanship"? Kumbaya with the Repubs accompanying the Dems on guitars, maybe? Really? Just because of who (you thought) Obama was?

Well.

The next time you're up for a game of real poker, give me a call.
 

Today is my 50th birthday

That's a lot of years...

I'm tired.

I think I'll eat some cheesecake and have a nap.


 

Let's Bomb Washington!

Oh wow. It's embarrassing to be a Canadian when news like this hits the stands:

Canada to stage mock Afghan attack in Washington

The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion.

At least four times over two days this month, simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war – and Canada's combat role in Kandahar – home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention, as is hoped.

“If this works the way I want it to, more Americans will know what Canada is doing in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Martin, a military attaché at the Canadian embassy.

Yeeha! Eh?

Between scheduled IED attacks at noon and 2 p.m. on Sept. 23, the first day of the conference, there will be an Afghan luncheon hosted by Kabul's envoy to Washington, Ambassador Said Jawad.

A division of Lockheed Martin [double check that bill when they're done. -catnip] that specializes in combat-training simulations will construct the mock village of three buildings and a mini-souk and provide the role-players – Afghan actors who will play the defenceless civilians [because they're running out of real defenceless civilians -catnip]. Strategic Operations Inc., a California company that claims to bring the “magic of Hollywood” to hyper-realistic training, will provide the pyrotechnics for the IED explosions.

Not to be outdone, the US military announced that it will host the following activities:

1. Hide and Seek: Find our secret torture prisons!
2. Whack-an-Afghani civilian: man your own drone and be home in time for supper.
3. Dress Hamid Karzai.
4. Pin the tail on the mass grave sites.

And for those nostalgia buffs who want to harken back to the Pentagon's glory days, there will be an extra-special demonstration:

5. How we napalmed Vietnam!
(Hazmat gear provided. Child volunteers needed.)



Yes. A good time will no doubt be had by all.

Hooah!

(h/t pogge)
 

Quote du Jour: Proctological Orifices

From the politically correct Jake Tapper:

In February during a discussion on energy at Berkeley, Calif., (and prior to his joining the Obama administration) [Van] Jones referred to Republicans using an epithet for a proctological orifice, which he called "a technical, political science term."

Asked why Republicans asserted more control of the Senate when they had a smaller majority before 2006, Jones said "the answer to that is, they're a--holes." He added that President Obama is not an a--hole, but, "I will say this. I can be an a--hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity."

- Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 "Truther" Movement, Apologizes for Past Comments

Surprise!

White House officials said they were surprised and frustrated by the reaction to a speech they said amounts to an educational pep talk.
- the WaPo

Democrats also say that for all their preparations, they never anticipated Republicans and their allies rolling out incendiary accusations that the Obama plan would empower "death panels," help illegal immigrants and raid Medicare.
- the WSJ

"I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo," said a senior White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We've gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform."
- the WaPo

"I am surprised, compared to where I started, when we first announced for the race, by the number of critical issues that appear to be coming to a head all at the same time," Obama said on a question at a press conference on the occasion of his completing 100 days in office.
- DNA

Vice President Biden voiced surprise at the criticism some House liberals have voiced about the administration's economic stimulus plan and said yesterday that he is holding out hope that the final version of the measure will attract support from "more than a handful of Senate Republicans and more than a couple dozen in the House."
- the WaPo

Within 24 hours of calling Rush Limbaugh “incendiary” and “ugly,” RNC Chairman Michael Steele had bowed down before the radio host, declaring, “There was no attempt on my part to diminish [Limbaugh's] voice or his leadership.” When Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the episode today, Gibbs suggested Steele’s reply proved that Limbaugh is in fact the head of the Republican Party:

GIBBS: I was a little surprised at the speed in which Mr. Steele, the head of the RNC, apologized to the head of the Republican Party.
- Think Progress

The Obama Daughters Surprised With a Swing Set
- ABC News

(Okay. That last one is stretching it a bit but you get the point.)

Well, I’m shocked and surprised at their shock and surprise.
- Paul Krugman, the NYT

An anonymous White House source added that they were also surprised to learn that the movie All the President's Men was based on a true story and that former Senator Joe McCarthy wasn't Jenny McCarthy's dad.
 

Peter MacKay or Monty Python: You decide...

OTTAWA — Peter MacKay denied Thursday that he was in a conflict of interest when he was a director of two family forestry companies while serving as a federal cabinet minister.

The defence minister and Central Nova MP acknowledged being in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act, which forbids ministers from serving on the boards of private companies, but he said that doesn’t necessarily mean he was in a conflict.

“As I have acknowledged, earlier this week I discovered I was not in compliance with section 15 of the act and took immediate steps to rectify the situation,” Mr. MacKay wrote in a letter emailed to The Chronicle Herald on Thursday. “A lack of compliance with section 15 does not, in itself, constitute a conflict of interest.”

Mr. MacKay objected to the headline on the front-page story: MacKay in Conflict of Interest.

“This headline is misleading, as it is simply not supported by the story you have published,” Mr. MacKay wrote. “Nothing in the story you have published establishes the existence of a conflict of interest.”

Shorter MacKay: It's only a conflict if it's a conflict and since it was a conflict, it wasn't really a conflict. Oh. And, "I forgot" so - no conflict. What's a tree?

Canada's ethics commissioner: That'll cost you $200.
 

Harper's Economic Fearmongering

If there's an election this fall, we're all gonna die!

Or something like that...

Steve:

An election does nothing for the country than present a great risk that we could get off track.

Economists say a federal election unlikely to derail Canada's economic recovery

Bob Rae:

"There's an effort here on the part of the Conservatives to create an atmosphere of total instability," Rae said. "Well, we're not a banana republic. Mr. Harper's not a generalissimo yet. He has to get used to living in a constitutional democracy."

Steve:

The performance of Canada's economy has been significantly better than elsewhere.

The OECD:

Canada, which fought off recession much longer than its peers in the Group of Seven nations, will trail them down the road to recovery, according to new projections by the Organization for Economic Development and Co-operation.

All G7 economies save those of Canada, Britain and Italy will expand in the third quarter, the Paris-based OECD said Thursday.

Any questions?
 

BernierGate Redux

Flashback to May 2008 when Steve had this to say about the Maxime Bernier scandal:

"I don't take this seriously."

Today, Le Devoir reported on what it found in those classified documents that Bernier left in Couillard's apartment - and it's very serious stuff:

The documents include classified information about NATO's plans to expand operations in the Balkans, Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan, arms control in the Middle East, security in Ukraine, and al-Qaeda's presence in Pakistan.
[...]
At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Bernier did not breach national security by leaving the documents behind. Harper indicated the documents included a mix of public and confidential material, and briefing notes for meetings.

Asked about these revelations at his press conference today, Steve said that since Bernier had resigned from his portfolio, he didn't have anything more to say about it. Bernier, however, is still a Conservative MP. I doubt Steve will be able to simply slough this off again like he tried to do when the scandal first broke. If the Cons had any integrity [insert chuckle here], they'd kick Bernier's ass right out of the party and onto the curb.

Related:

Bernier responds to Le Devoir on his blog.

Le Devoir: Une mine d'informations cruciales pour l'ennemi
 

Ignatieff's Big Lie

Stephen Harper hasn’t just failed to stand up for Canada—he’s also failed to stand up for Canadians.

Suaad Mohamud. Omar Khadr. Makhtal. Bahari. Mohamed. Abdelrazik.

Being a Canadian must mean the Canadian government will stand up for you—no matter where, no matter when. This is at the heart of what every Liberal believes: a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

A Liberal government would stand by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We would stand by our citizens.

And we would bring forward legislation to protect Canadians abroad—to make it illegal for the government to pick and choose which citizens it protects—to make sure these abuses never happen again.

- Ignatieff's speech

Apparently, Ignatieff isn't aware of the Liberal party's history of refusing to fight for Omar Khadr's return while it was in power. Former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham justified it thusly in 2008:

Graham concedes that the Liberal government's response was not unlike that given by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government today – that Canada will not interfere as it accepts U.S. assurances Khadr is being treated and will face justice.

"That was our response as well," Graham said. "I think a year or two years after 9/11 that was a perfectly legitimate response."

He only changed his tune after his Liberal government fell.

And the Liberal party track record on Maher Arar's case was equally as dismal as it enabled the Syrians and Americans to get away with confining and torturing him.

How dare he spout that "a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian" is "at the heart of what every Liberal believes" when actions prove otherwise?
 

Ignatieff's Talking Tough - Again

The headline du jour coming out of the Liberal party's caucus meeting in Sudbury courtesy of Ignatieff is: "Mr Harper, your time is up; we cannot support this government any further".

Speaking after Mr Ignatieff and going further than Iggy was willing to, Denis Coderre informed reporters that the Liberals will take their first opposition day in October to introduce a non-confidence motion. That certainly remains to be seen considering the cry wolf scenario the Liberals have been repeating over and over this year.

In response to Ignatieff, Steve said:

"Going through more political games, more political instability, does not serve the country's interests right now."

Games like perogying proroguing parliament? Because that little chess game sure was fun.

The Liberal party may have the lead in the fund raising race but the party platform that Ignatieff promised when he was anointed back in the spring which he said would be released in June has yet to materialize. Ignatieff talked about their "vision" during his speech. Okay then: what is it? Because from where I sit, the talk is about being Conservative-Lite (which is basically what the party has become anyway).

It's no secret that I find Ignatieff to be incredibly uninspiring and about as exciting as melba toast. And I'm not alone in that. How the party plans to actually win an election after a year of basically being tied in the polls with Steve's government is beyond me.

I think the party missed the boat when it backed down in June at a time when the recession was a majorly stressful concern across this country. That stress has eased somewhat since then even though the economics haven't improved all that much (and are, in fact, worse in some areas). Steve's government didn't deserve to coast through the summer while being allowed every opportunity to make its case. The poll results clearly show that the summer was a write-off for the opposition parties that provided a boost for the Conservatives.

So, here the Liberals are without a clear platform and with a leader who'd do a better job of narrating lullaby books on tape than rallying Canadians to vote for him. "We can do better" is not a policy statement.

Related:

You can read Ignatieff's speech here.

In my next post about that speech, I'll expose one big lie that Ignatieff spouted. Stay tuned.

Update:

Skepticism abounds in the blogosphere:

Calgary Grit: This Time We Mean It?

Driving the Porcelain Bus: "Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff" - Hard to believe with their record

Scott's Diatribes: Ignatieff: '‘The Liberal Party of Canada cannot support this government any further’

Accidental Deliberations: On revelations

Hell, Upside Down: Iggy Applies the George Costanza Theory

BigCityLib: What The Hell Does It Mean?