Category: News

I was asked a short while ago if I had watched the Presidential debates tonight on television. Honestly, spending two hours watching the debates isn’t something I find interesting, least of all because nothing of importance is likely to be said anyway. The key ideas will be communicated by the pundit/blog class, while the performances will be critiqued in all the press writeups over the next several days and weeks. Considering the influence the post-debate spin from the political and media classes, the debates themselves will likely not have much value taken alone.

Of course, if you’re my friend Dave, who’s enjoying an evening of debauchery somewhere in Virginia, I might be willing to tune in.

…missile defense?

One of the most vulernable areas for Bush is the situation (i.e. mess) in Iraq, considering it was an optional misadventure that has been botched ever since the collapse of the Baathist regime. Unfortunately, Kerry being Kerry, he’s been unable to adequately exploit this area to his advantage. I imagine the single largest contributor is that there is an activist base within the Democratic Party that wants nothing more than to dump the whole thing, bring the soldiers home, and pretend it never happened, not willing to face the obvious fact that to do so would be to allow the Islamic Fundamentalists carte blanche to overrun the country and establish a new base for operations. So while Bush may have completely botched the post-war, Kerry must remain committed to a stable government.

To that end, I’ll outline three steps he should endorse that, while potentially difficult to implement, may help prod things along. Certainly, they can’t make things any worse.

1. Push the current governing body for rolling elections in “stable” areas. This idea had been kicked around in the runnup to the end of June soverignty transfer and, I believe, generally remains a good one. If much of the violence remains within the Sunni triangle, the election of local leaders in the remainder of the country may help move along the process.

2. Internationalize security and reconstruction. Put the troops in stable regions under a NATO or other international command. The implementation of rolling elections with a plea from actual elected Iraqi leaders and a willingness to award reconstruction contracts by bringing transparncy to the process may be sufficient to engage some of the more reluctant allies.

3. If the first two items are successful, additional troops may be freed up to focus on the conflict hot spots. In addition, the idea of local elected leaders combined with real examples of the democratic process may help calm tensions in troubled areas.

Certainly there are many pitfalls to this, but there are few other options. Bush has squandered and mismanaged this process for the last two years, and for that alone he should be booted from office. But without Kerry announcing even the outlines of a vaguely different course of action, the Iraq issue becomes a draw at best in November.

Finally, a response by John Kerry to the 24-hour-slander-a-thon by the anti-democratic GOP.

We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander-in-chief. Well, here’s my answer. I’m not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.

The Vice President even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I’ll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you’re still on their payroll makes you unfit. That’s the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it’s not going to change. I believe it’s time to move America in a new direction; I believe it’s time to set a new course for America.

Courtesey of The New Republic.

George Soros is being slandered by the irreputable Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

• Talking Points Menu


• Joi Ito

Just another example of how Republicans don’t even try to compete in the realm of ideas, but instead sink to innuedo and name-calling as their official talking points. At least Hastert has the “bravery”, and I use that term loosely, to not hide behind sham groups like Bush.

Update: Slate picks up the story.

If only the media would finish doing it’s job and clear up the Swift Boat “controversy”, when the only controversial item is outing the liars.

As I watched the women’s individual all-around gymnastics medal ceremony tonight, I couldn’t resist drawing the pseudo-obvious connection between the placements and the evolution of the global superpowers over the past decade. In second place, the Russians, stabilizing but faded. In first, the U.S., currently enjoying its own moment in the sun. And in third, the rising Chinese, whom have an opportunity to become a huge force in the world as they evolve.