William Kristol, The New York Times, January 14, 2008 "Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." Thus spoke Bill Clinton last Monday night, exasperated by Barack Obama's claim that he - unlike Hillary Clinton - had been consistently right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) on the Iraq war. Now in fact, Obama has been pretty consistent in his opposition to the war. But Bill Clinton is right in this respect: Obama's view of the current situation in Iraq is out of touch with reality. In this, however, Obama is at one with Hillary Clinton and the entire leadership of the Democratic Party. When President Bush announced the surge of troops in support of a new counterinsurgency strategy a year ago, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Democratic Congressional leaders predicted failure. Obama, for example, told Larry King that he didn't believe additional U.S. troops would "make a significant dent in the sectarian violence that's taking place there." Then in April, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, asserted that "this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything." In September, Clinton told Gen. David Petraeus that his claims of progress in Iraq required a "willing suspension of disbelief." The Democrats were wrong in their assessments of the surge. Attacks per week on American troops are now down about 60 percent from June. Civilian deaths are down approximately 75 percent from a year ago. December 2007 saw the second-lowest number of U.S. troops killed in action since March 2003. And according to Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of day-to-day military operations in Iraq, last month's overall number of deaths, which includes Iraqi security forces and civilian casualties as well as U.S. and coalition losses, may well have been the lowest since the war began. Do Obama and Clinton and Reid now acknowledge that they were wrong? Are they willing to say the surge worked? Read More Here

Terence Hunt, The Huffington Post, January 14, 2008 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush delivered a sophisticated weapons sale for Saudi Arabia on Monday, trying to bolster defenses against threats from U.S. adversary Iran and muster support in this oil-rich kingdom for a long-stalled Mideast peace agreement. On a surprisingly cold day with blustery winds, Bush received a warm embrace from King Abdullah, whose family wields almost absolute rule. Among ordinary Saudis and across much of the Mideast, Bush is unpopular, particularly because of the Iraq war and unflinching U.S. support for Israel. Bush and Abdullah were going to some lengths over two days to emphasize their strong personal ties. Saudi Arabia holds the world's largest oil reserves and surging fuel costs are putting a major strain on the troubled U.S. economy. But White House officials said it was unclear if Bush raised the subject with the king. The issue has come up in earlier stops on Bush's eight-day trip, largely in the context of his quest for alternate fuels and sources of energy, the officials said. White House counselor Ed Gillespie said Mideast leaders have "talked about the nature of the market and the vast demand that's on the world market today for oil." He said that was "a legitimate and accurate point." Read More Here

BartCop.com Volume 2097 - Jesuitical BS In Today's Tequila Treehouse...

	Gulf of Tonkin, 2008
	Real Reason we Hate Her
	NY Times loves Obama
	Responding to Recession
	Kill your Damn TV
	Court: Torture is Expected
	Cowboys Lose Again
	Bush, the crying bitch
	Broadway Jessica Alba

Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 14, 2008 Suddenly, the economic consensus seems to be that the implosion of the housing market will indeed push the U.S. economy into a recession, and that it"s quite possible that we're already in one. As a result, over the next few weeks we'll be hearing a lot about plans for economic stimulus. Since this is an election year, the debate over how to stimulate the economy is inevitably tied up with politics. And here"s a modest suggestion for political reporters. Instead of trying to divine the candidates" characters by scrutinizing their tone of voice and facial expressions, why not pay attention to what they say about economic policy? In fact, recent statements by the candidates and their surrogates about the economy are quite revealing. Take, for example, John McCain"s admission that economics isn"t his thing. "The issue of economics is not something I"ve understood as well as I should," he says. "I've got Greenspan"s book." His self-deprecating humor is attractive, as always. But shouldn't we worry about a candidate who's so out of touch that he regards Mr. Bubble, the man who refused to regulate subprime lending and assured us that there was at most some "froth" in the housing market, as a source of sage advice? Read More Here