October 26, 2004, Time Marches On and the Imperium shows signs of stress
In honor of Hillary Clinton's birthday (the Empire State's junior senator and America's former first lady turns 56 today) and my own birth 42 years ago today (smack during the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis), we'll give you a triple play from peripatetic former talking dog running mate Bruce Moomaw:
(1) Andrew Sullivan -- who endorsed Bush enthusiatically last time and has been on the fence all year this time, before finally deciding to endorse Kerry today:
"QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'The commander of the first unit into the area told CBS he did not search it for explosives or secure it from looters. "We were still in a fight," he said. "Our focus was killing bad guys." He added he would have needed four times more troops to search and secure all the ammo dumps he came across.' -- CBS' latest press release on the missing explosives.
"Four times more troops. But that would have meant doing it right." (Or as I like to say; is Bush guilty of negligent homicide, or of intentional mass murder... those are the only choices.)
(2) "Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, on Tuesday accused foreign troops in the country of 'gross negligence' in the massacre of 49 Iraqi National Guard recruits over the weekend, an unusually critical remark by the U.S.-backed leader... The remark was an unusual public condemnation of the U.S. military and its allies in Iraq from the prime minister, who worked closely with Washington as an exile leader during the rule of President Saddam Hussein."
(What kind of a mixed message to allies is that Allawi trying to send?)
(3) "A new conventional wisdom is taking hold among Britain's military and foreign-policy elite: even if John Kerry defeats Bush, any British government will find it difficult, if not impossible, to muster popular support for a future American-led military intervention. A senior British diplomat put it bluntly to NEWSWEEK: 'Never again.'...
"Blair's fealty to Bush barely masks serious disagreements between the American and the British governments. In private, senior British military commanders have strongly criticized the United States' 'overwhelming force' tactics in Iraq. Senior British Foreign Service officers have despaired at the post-9/11 collapse of American diplomacy. For Washington, it's one thing to see Thailand and New Zealand pulling troops out of Iraq. It's quite another to have Britain questioning its 'special relationship' with the United States."
Destroying America's special relationship with Britain. Now, that's an achievement for the Bushites to put under their belts, by God. Give 'em four more years and maybe they'll be able to alienate Israel, too.
As long as he doesn't alientate Texas, Ohio and Florida...
Well, I thank Bruce for the blogger's birthday present: the prepackaged post!!! The Bush Imperium is definitely under some serious strain, and anyone aware of them thar' apples that supports Bush can pretty much not be talked to, and anyone undecided... well, flip a damned coin already.
Cheers! Hopefully, we'll keep spouting our brand of bloggy piffle for the next 42 years and then some...
Comments
Well, happy birthday, you young punk. ;) Mine's the Thursday after election day, so you can well imagine what I'd like as a gift (the junior Senator is two years my elder).
Posted by Linkmeister at October 27, 2004 1:33 AM
Happy Birthday TD!
Posted by alicia at October 27, 2004 9:46 AM
Happy Birthday, Dog, a bit belatedly.
In honor of your birthday, may I change my electoral vote prediction? I would never have imagined it, but I now believe he will get 300, with Bush at 238. Popular vote I'm changing, too--I think it's gonna be 50-48 for Kerry. I didn't dare hope it would go this well, but I think the tall guy is gonna pick up Arkansas and New Mexico, as well as getting all three of Ohio, PA and Fla. We're going to lose Wisconsin and Iowa, I think, but we'll win Minnesota.
Posted by mamayo at October 27, 2004 11:14 AM
To put Kerry over top no problem, I'm going to give him North Korea's votes. Ha Ha Ha!!!
Posted by Kim Jong-Illin at October 28, 2004 12:41 PM
I missed your birthday? Why wasn't I advised? By the way, I'm already in negotiations with John Kerry to represent my various interests during the next four years.
Posted by Hassan Bar Sinister at October 28, 2004 12:44 PM
Hassan--
Its not in your FILE? I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.
Kim--
Kerry will talk to you directly to thank you for your votes.
Posted by the talking dog at October 28, 2004 12:49 PM