AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: I see Rush Lainbrain is now abusing hallucinogens.

The Link

He's so drug addled he can't remember which lies he tells from day to day. Dissent is one thing, but outright lies are another.

Al Franken usually catalogues about 2-3 of his daily truth-challenged tirades. Someone from the Kerry campaign ought to sue this fat druggie for libel, since he's incapable of telling the truth, and let him peddle his hateful, bizarro-world nonsense where it belongs, behind bars.

What is he smoking now????? eek!

As Matt Lauer pointed out during his interview with Bush Monday morning, after 9/11 even in Tehran there were candlelight vigils for our country - our enemies were with us during that horrible time.

What has changed and what has created this wave of anti-American feeling is the unilateral, saber-weilding, macho crap that Bush has been spewing since he entered office. It is Bush who tossed aside international treaties, it is Bush who leapfrogged ahead of the international community to wage war on Iraq when it was not necessary, and it is Bush who refuses to even acknowledge his own mistakes in dealing with the world.

Nice try Rush, but maybe you should go back to the Vince Foster "murder" - at least that conspiracy theory made some sense.

Bingo CPT!!!!!!

Alert the media! Rush is back on "prescription drugs"!

Yeah, the anti-Americanism we're experiencing now is because of the little-noticed testimony of one former soldier from 33 years ago. Allowing Afghanistan to fall back into the hands of the warlords, invading Iraq on dubious claims, mucking up the post-war effort, spurning our allies, degrading the UN, and taking on a position that the US can uniltaterally decide which foreign governments are legitimate and which country deserve regime change have nothing to do with it. Man, gimme some of whatever Rush is on.

Rush has been hanging out with Noelle Bush again.

Limbaugh is still on the air? I thought he was in the Betty Ford Center.

Dear Rush,

Please put the crack pipe down, and remember to take your Lithium.

You give one person a tad bit too much credit for brining the majority of the Arabic world to mistrust the USA. I feel alo of that has to do with the US's backing of the creation of Isreal for which many arabic nations have just not forgiven the USA. Many of the Arabic nations have been around for a very long time relative the US, and we just don't see things from the same perspective. "One grain of sand does not make a desert."

From the 9/13 issue of the American Conservative (Buchanan's mag):

Americans who thrall to all the talk of how "tough" the current administration is on terror are in for a rude awakening. We're hated like never before. The article makes the case that Anybody but Bush "need not arise from blind-Bush hatred but from a sober appreciation of the international situation."

In short, victory in the War on Terror depends less on homeland security than global cooperation, and for a global strategy to work, we have to eject Bush. I'll link it when it becomes available online.

Hey, Tom--what's with the big about-face? A few months ago, you were all gung-ho about Bush's foreign policy. I'm not criticizing you for seeing the light, just curious what made you change your mind.

Maybe he's just grown as disgusted with W's policies as ung has. How many reality slaps can you take without waking up? That is, unless they knock you into a zombie-like state.

My baby threatened never to talk to me if I didn't snap out of it. Now he monitors everything I write on here, so I'll quickly say: Yes honey, I love him, he is fine, he does a lot of nice things for me.

Seriously, FMA soured me, of course. And Bush's foreign policy is a failure, and it will only get worse. Al Queda will morph into a different kind of organization, and we're not equipped to keep up with it. We've done nothing about the Palestinian problem that's at the heart of a lot of anti-Americanism. We've actually made it worse. That anon CIA book that said Iraq was like a Christmas present to AQ was an eye opener. And the realization that Americans don't have the language skills and the social experience to be effective abroad.

And, yeah, a fair bit of growing up, and realizing that dropping bombs and winning hearts are mutually exclusive. It's a seductive formula--boys who won't grow up love the bombs part, the good in us likes the winning hearts part. But it's bone headed and clearly a recipe for failure over the long term, given this kind of an enemy.

Bush had the right idea (especially his historic 'coddling of Middle Eastern tyrants' speech) , but he executed it badly. Really badly. We can dig our heads in the sand about Abu Gharib and pretend it's yesterday's news, but no one abroad has forgotten, and it will be grist for the anti-US mill for a long, long time, regardless of our wanting to do the American thing and change the channel in an effort to move on. Again, totally Bush admin's fault--take a bow Rumsfeld. Kerry can't stop what lies ahead, but we need a clean break from Bush's failures if we're to have any chance of turning things around. Even if it's a symbolic break (I suspect Kerry won't have the balls to come up with something new and radical, and he'll be cowed into continuing the Bush Doctrine to show he's just as tough).

I'm really, really pessimistic about what lies ahead. I think we've lulled ourselves into a false sense of security by having an orgy of police presence at airports and at events like the convention...which is a great show for us, but we'll all be scratching our heads and wondering what went wrong once the next attack comes. And instead of focusing on things that can make a difference long term--such as an independent Palestine--we'll get stuck in arguments over one coast guard for Washington's coastline and other rubbish.

Hearing all the talk of being tough on terror and Bush's forceful personality this week is nauseating. It's like we want to be duped, like it's more important to tell ourselves that we're so safe and everything is good, and that we've turned a corner, and that if we say it enough times, it will make it so.

And this charismatic leadership dumb pill on permanent drip over at Madison Square Garden that Bush the man will single handedly keep us safe from a foreign menace by the sheer force of his unwavering personality. Absurd. Especially considering what the world thinks of him. But when it comes to facing reality about what's outside the U.S., we just want to turn a blind eye. It's worse than ever. And all of it, every last bit of it, is the Bush administration's fault. 9/11 to now is yet another surplus to deficit trajectory.

Having been to places like Pakistan, it's doubly sickening when you read these laudatory stories about the Pakistani govt being on our side. Please. They'll take our money and tell us what we want to hear. And their intelligence forces will f**k us over in a heartbeat. Every big wig we capture already has a host of lieutenants ready to take off from where he left. We've given them plenty of reasons to be against us, and their govt gives them more. We're so powerless to deal with the various factions (which is why the conservative and sensible position used to be to stay the f**k away).

That said, I'm so stupidly idealistic that, in my heart of hearts, I still buy that whole democracy in the Middle East mumbo jumbo, but I've learned to shut up about it. Anyone But Bush, all the way.

Is Tom Ford a Flippity Flip Flip Flip Flopper?

By all indications, it already has (and no, we're not equipped to deal with it). Bin Laden and his ilk are either isolated and in hiding or captured, but people who either shared his outlook or acquired it after we did what he predicted (invade and occupy an Arab, mostly Muslim country) are carrying on without him (and probably will for some time). And because most AQ attacks (the African embassies, the Cole, the Khobar Towers et al.) weren't big-budget ops like 9/11 (in fact, most resembled Oklahoma City more than 9/11), they don't require a billionaire backer or global coordination. I forget who said it, but Al Qaeda has become more of a "brand" than a cartel, which makes defending against it even harder. The neo-cons with their Son of Manifest Destiny agenda have played right into the terrorists' hands ... but don't expect them to admit it.

No, I see him more as the prodigal son who was once dead yet is now alive. Slaughter the fatted calf.

(TomF: that was a very good post, BTW.)

Don't harsh on him. His comments were amazing. I like you both. So make nice. Hearts and minds, no bombs. Kiss kiss. (See, I AM a liberal!)

Tom, thanks for the detailed response. I'd love to see democracy spread through the Middle East, but the Reagan era left me deeply cynical about U.S. presidents claiming to spread democracy.

As to flip-flopping--it's only a negative if you do it without good reason. The only people who never change their minds are stubborn idiots.

[ September 01, 2004, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: JC ]

...because it must be said...

I know he used to do nice things for you, but what has done for you lately?

You may now return to your previously scheduled political discussion.

kalabro, you got it! and you're welcome jc, thanks for asking so nicely. and thanks aquaman and fantomas. and agreed danimal. the brand vs. old school cartel--yikes!

[ September 02, 2004, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: TomFord ]

Exactly true.
I believe the psychology term is Cognitive Dissonance. We want to think that everything America does is good, effective, warm and fuzzy. When the facts start rolling in that are contrary to that, we find it easier to twist the facts rather than accept the truth.

Who wants to admit that he or she voted in an idiot? It is far easier to convince oneself that he is a good president with sound policies. Sometimes people pick their horse and will stick to it even if it will be their own undoing. That's the human brain for you.

I like the old 'horse running back into a burning barn' analogy.

Those who want this country to continue with the same failed policies of the past administration believe they have to frighten us enough to prevent us from thinking. That horse is spooked and so is much of the public in this country. Kerry has to calm, rather than stoke those fears.

gmg