Fireworks

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Lest we forget who pays the price for all the fireworks. And posturing.

can't embed the pic...don't miss it at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mumansky/2557100321/


When will we ever learn, indeed.
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Prairie Recommends: Frank Rich on Obama's Afghan Decision

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Will Obama bow to the will of the General reading his McChrystal ball?

Or will he find common ground with conservative columnist George Will?

Frank Rich deconstructs the options facing President Obama going forward in--or out of--Afghanistan. And traces the parallels to the decision facing another President, an earlier time, about Vietnam. What's that ol' saw about lessons of history again?

And in Rich's comparison, conspiracy theorists can now add a new posit to bloody November 22. A military sharpshooter eliminating the obstacle to their drumbeat for expanded war in SE Asia?

But this time, the vice president would not bend to their sturm und drang. So they're back to pressuring the president to yield to their will. Bush would. Will Obama?
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crossposted at firedoglake's The Seminal

Moral Bankruptcy-Summer Edition

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In a week when we've been treated to the twin spectres of political grandstanding at its most low--McCain slavering over warmongering and Matalin's avatar Corsi sleazing about Obama--the weekend, according to CNN, will put both presidential candidates on view for questioning on their faith and values. The conversations with Rev. Rick Warren are supposed to tell us about the character of each of these two.

I've been seeing more than I want of the character of one of the candidates this week. John McCain's unabashed, craven, covetous rush for the Presidency was on display as he grabbed the microphone to lash out against Russia for the situation in Georgia and for all manner of sins going back to the Cold War.

Maybe nobody's told McReckless that someone else is President. I know it's hard to believe when the playing-boy President is doin' cheers with the flag and Pootie-poot while havoc was erupting in Georgia. But then, that's what happens when you've mortgaged your country and your soul to the Chinese...you must pretend that their games are your life's highest priority.

Or maybe they are.

Meanwhile, if McCain...or his handlers...or his Rovian-schooled advisors think that giving the American people a glimpse of an even more reckless, more bellicose, more opportunistic war-monger than Bush 43 is a smart idea, well...maybe not so much.

And speaking of Rove, in the crucible of the vile Jerome Corsi smear book, has there ever been a female doppelganger more morally bankrupt than Corsi's project manager/editor, Mary "a good piece of scholarship" Matalin? No wonder she scuttled out of Foggy Bottom. But doesn't New Orleans have enough problems already?
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Fog of War

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We've been treated to McCain holding court about the current kerfuffle in Georgia.

Here's the single clarion voice of one witness in that war zone, a 12-year-old girl.

Hear her aunt's words, and ask yourself, who do you believe?

The family on the ground when the bombs rained?

Or the sturm-und-drang bluster of a desperate candidate trying to politicize Georgia for his own advantage.
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UPDATE: Guess who the troops seem to be paying their attention—and their contribution dollars—to...

Wag the Bear?

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Listening to John McCain sabre rattle about Russia gives pause. What cannot be ignored is the controversy of McCain's lobbyist/supporter Scheuneman's murky business ties to Georgia.

McCain has pushed himself to center stage on this story, in the absence of Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii with his family, and current-president Bush, who is between vacations in China and Crawford.

If the situation weren't so grave, it would be funny contemplating McCain staging a reprise of Alexander Haig's "I am in charge" moment back in the day.

And he notes that in the 21st Century, "nations don't invade other nations." Ahem...Iraq, Senator? Iran in waiting?

And in one breath McCain says "This is no time for that" in response to reporters' questions about politization...while announcing his two key campaign acolytes, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman will be travelling to Georgia.

Why not the other members of the Armed Services Committee, Senator McCain? From both sides of the political aisle? And just why is this committee your self-declared one to be "in charge." And whazzup with usurping the authority of Committee Chair Carl Levin?

Shouldn't it be Biden's Foreign Relations Committee on point for this situation?

Apparently, for McCain, the presumptuous president syndrome applies to current Senatorial rank, as well.
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Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister is upping the ante, saying the U.S. must choose sides.

Heckuva job, all those BushCo's who prodded Georgia into its intemperate action that triggered this flashpoint. We don't need a third term of rash, reckless, bellicose warmongering.
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UPDATE: What did Condi say to the Georgian President when she was there last month...and what did Bush's Brain and current informal McCain advisor and Faux Propaganda Network analyst Karl Rove promise Shaakashvili only days later?