From Reuters, Republicans block vote on troop withdrawal
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky countered that the measure was a poor alternative to current strategy.
“Last night’s theatrics accomplished nothing,” McConnell said.
“After all the gags and gimmicks, the cold pizza and the empty cots” it was still not clear what the pullout proposal would mean for U.S. strategy, McConnell said.
McConnell went on: “What’s this interview for? For some article that will appear in newspapers and on the web and be read by hundreds of thousands of people? What could that possibly do?
“Okay, so tomorrow, thousands of taxpaying, voting American citizens are going to read that a bunch of Senators debated ’round the clock about bringing our troops out of harm’s way in what most Americans see as a misguided struggle. So?
“When you look at it - these cheap theatrics that make headlines and illustrate to the citizenry of our democracy just exactly who is and isn’t willing to confront our addled administration about the conduct of this stagnant war that has already cost us the lives of 3600 Americans… I mean…
“…what do they think they’re accomplishing here?”
Fanny Roborat
22 comments
Ann
July 18, 2007 at 12:41 pm
1Wow, that McConnell guy really pegged the Iron-e-meter!
And I hear he’s engaged to that hot supermodel too, the one who played that blue chick in X-Men.
It's Pat!
July 18, 2007 at 1:30 pm
2I see that my buddy Chuck Hagel continues to cross the line, while my non-buddy Joe has fallen off the cliff of reason. That guy (Chuck)is in the reddest of red states, and has taken the correct (I like to avoid using the word “right”) position. I saw him walking a parade while visiting Nebraska - he’s kinda short. That makes me like him even more.
Sharon
July 18, 2007 at 2:00 pm
3Y’know, GW told us way back in 2000 what his intentions were.
“If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator,” Bush joked.
– CNN.com, December 18, 2000
Ha, ha, ha. We’re laughing our asses off now, aren’t we. Why the fnuk don’t enough of us ever pay attention? Too busy shopping?
Please, if you haven’t already done so, write and/or call your senators and representatives. The time has come for impeachment hearings to begin. If you called ‘em last week, call ‘em again.
Kjell Mikkelson
July 18, 2007 at 2:31 pm
4Pat, Jeg er meget kort , også.
gillian
July 18, 2007 at 2:45 pm
5One thing about living on the best coast, as opposed to the left coast, is that when your work is done, Miller Time comes three hours earlier. Not that I’d rub that in or anything. Cheers (except on the left coast)!
piglet
July 18, 2007 at 2:53 pm
6That was a good one, gillian. And by that, I mean depressing one.
And remember as you enjoy your drinky, we got to sleep in way later than you.
Ann
July 18, 2007 at 2:56 pm
7Don’t worry, Piglet—I’m going to start drinking in about five minutes. And I sleep late!
waterfowler
July 18, 2007 at 4:45 pm
8Either Olbermann thinks we’re all stupid, ya’ll are included, or he’s just an ignorant hack. There is a difference between filibuster & failure to attain cloture. The youngest redneck knows that.
cooper
July 18, 2007 at 5:13 pm
9Okay, I’m back from several glorious days seaside on the Carolina coast. Warm waters, sunny skies, a smorgasbord of sumptuous seafood. I’ve got to find a way to retire there.
cooper
July 18, 2007 at 5:35 pm
10Hey, Mr. Fowler. I’m not sure what you’re referring to here, but tonight Keith had a field day with Bill O’Reilly’s truly really creepy interview with Miss America, Amy Polumbo. Apparently someone is trying to blackmail her with some old photos to get her to give up the Miss America crown. Bill O was trying to get Miss Polumbo to describe the photos - “Did you have clothes on? Was it a Lingerie thing? Same sex affection???” Why is Bill O’Reilly still on TV? Isn’t one sexual harassment suit enough for him?
Zee Man
July 19, 2007 at 3:46 am
11Want to spend your leisure hours this weekend watching rich men gnashing their teeth, rending their overpriced garments, searching pointlessly on hands and knees through high weeds & brambles, and cursing the heavens with the fowlest of discourse only to have it swallowed up by raging winds and bone chilling rain squalls? Of course you do. For your entertainmen - for the remainder of the week - The British Open from Carnoustie, Scotland, where the sane natives (no, really, three have been documented, a couple more are possibilities) are heard to say “Christ! Now t’ar’s a fookin’ game tha’ ne’er shuda be’n inven’ed!”
Green Swamp Person
July 19, 2007 at 5:12 am
12gillian, piglet, Ann:
Down here On the Edge we don’t need no stinkin’ time zone, and the rising and setting of the sun, while glorious to behold, don’t got nuthin’ to do when we drink, sleep, etc. Hell, some of the Swamp People ain’t even in the same century, let alone a regular time zone.
And then there’s Mitch McConnell, who’s in his own little well-heeled, I’m-really-in-charge-in-the-Senate universe. He does know how to raise big Republican bucks, for sure, and he’s pretty well perfected his smarmy, smart-ass media persona, and he’s only a half-step behind Karl Rove in his ability to make my skin crawl, or as waterfowler would say, he makes me want to puke (except real Swamp People don’t puke, they raise another one).
david
July 19, 2007 at 7:08 am
13This is probably the single best quote I’ve ever read. And @Ann, he was probably distracted by his hot new wife, no?
Ann
July 19, 2007 at 1:48 pm
14Interesting article (via Language Log):
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/07/correspondent_i.html
Turns out…wait for it…they might not really want to CUT OUR HEADS OFF! Or at least that might not be their primary goal. Just something to consider.
Jack Back...
July 19, 2007 at 3:20 pm
15Well maybe, Ann, but I’m still not going to turn my back to Rashid just yet.
Dale
July 19, 2007 at 4:43 pm
16I don´t know, when I hear WF say that he´s upset Fallujah is still left standing, I understand that political ideas and the desire to blow everybody the hell up can be pretty intermingled, and that the latter is stronger than and outlasts the former.
Boomer
July 19, 2007 at 5:13 pm
17Keith Olbermann rips new ones all around in his special commentary tonight. The Bush Administration trotted out a mid-level neocon flunky to send a letter to Hillary Clinton, blaming her for aiding the insurgents by asking the Pentagon if they have a plan for removing the troops from Iraq. It was so choice, Keith started the program with the comment and Crooks & Liars already has it up on their website, if you’re interested.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/19/special-comment-keith-blasts- bush-scapegoating-this-is-your-war/
Hot Tub Tommy
July 19, 2007 at 6:06 pm
18Today, at the College Republican National Committee’s 2007 Convention in Arlington, VA, I gave a speech where I mentioned that if the 40,000,000 fetuses (OK, I made that number up. Sue me!) that have been aborted in the last 30 years had been born, we wouldn’t need the 12,000,000 wet backs now in our country illegally. We’d have plenty of American workers to handle the jobs that go to illegals today. The liberals will probably be all over me for that one, but piss on them.
I must say, it really hurt when I arrived today; that there, across the Potomac River, was the Capitol Building, where I used to rule the country. The new leader of the House, Mitch McConnell, is a pussy whupped pinhead. Imagine being married to the King Hell of all bitches, Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor. On second thought, no, I won’t imagine that. Well fuck living in the past. I’m making so much more money these days as a lobbyist, though the vast majority of it goes to feed my school of barracudas. Those lawyers better keep me and Christine out of prison, is all I’ll say. Guido and Vinnie are warming up the car now, in case I need to mete out some of my own justice.
BTW, turning in Lemuel is not snitching. Come on folks, he’s here all the time. Just drug him or crack him over the head next time he shows his ugly mug. Quit being such a sorry sack of limp-wristed faggots. Turn him over to me; I’ll make it worth your while. And, oh yeah, no animals will be harmed during my interrogation of Lem, unless you count Lemuel as an animal. (I know I do. Snort!!!)
Yours in Christ, TD
SeattleDan
July 19, 2007 at 8:10 pm
19fowler, love ya man. I’m on the cusp of the two top threads here. Here is Olbermann, once again dissing me as a thinking human being:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-SC-Scapegoat.mov
My hero? My dad. He served in WW2 as a radio operator in the Merchant Marine at the age of 17. His ship was sunk in the Indian Ocean (by a German sub, as it turned out) in Feb. 1945. He survived on a lifeboat for 21 days, and was picked up by the HMS Victorious on the last day, the day they ran out of food. He entered the MM at about 180, and weighed 120 the day he was picked up. He raised me to be a thinking, rational and questioning human being. I honor him for that. And for being there. And for being the great guy that he still is. He’s my hero.
gillian
July 20, 2007 at 3:06 am
20I couldn’t get back to sleep, so…
hedera
July 25, 2007 at 7:31 pm
21Boomer, what a brilliant Olbermann rant. The man is a treasure. If only we didn’t need him…
Nice to hear from you all again, I just got back from a 3 week vacation in England and Wales - we got out just ahead of the floods.
David
July 26, 2007 at 6:20 am
22And the man comes from sports broadcasting. The best piece in the Orlando (FL) Sentinel on Pat Tillman was written by a sports columnist (and local sports broadcaster) who grew up in a very small North Central Florida community. Perhaps their political acumen and tendency to speak up did not get in the way (as it has for far too many journalists) because they were rising through the ranks of sports broadcasting. I don’t know - just thinking out loud.