Gelb on Walt and Mearsheimer

post from Ezra Klein on 23 September 2007 11:51:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Many of the attacks against Walt and Mearsheimer's Israel Lobby thesis have been ad hominem, shoddy, and/or unconcerned with the book's actual arguments. The same cannot be said for Leslie Gelb's rejoinder, which disagrees with Walt and Mearsheimer, but[...]

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Late Night

post from Eschaton on 23 September 2007 11:46:00 PM. © Eschaton

rock on.

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A dog party! A big dog party!

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 23 September 2007 11:37:06 PM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

I already posted about yesterday's "Doggie Paddle" in an open thread, but, you know, it's not often that I find myself with the time, or the inclination to write about anything these days. I've got a busy work schedule--which is about to get busier for the next couple weeks. We've got an IEP to sort out, with a "resource" teacher who is in desperate need of education on Asperger's Syndrome. (Probably also in need of an attitude adjustment.) We've got a daughter who, on her twelfth birthday (earlier this month) announced that she was becoming a vegetarian, without having dropped any hints that she might be inclined to do such a thing. This is a girl who, when she first began combining words, memorably said "More beef!" So that has been yet another new complication in a life that is already plenty complicated, thank you very much! And politics? Pffft! Don't get me started...

So, where was I? Oh yeah...

The "Doggie Paddle" (a fundraiser for a local dog park) was actually supposed to take place two weeks ago, but was cancelled due to rain early in the afternoon. Once the rain had cleared, Daughter and I put Winnie in the car and headed up to the pool. When we arrived, there had only been a few cars there--belonging to other disappointed dog owners who were discovering that the event had been cancelled.

The next week, I was pleased to learn that the event had been rescheduled, and as we pulled up to the pool yesterday, we were met with a decidedly full parking lot. And a quick look inside the park revealed lots of dogs having a good time. I couldn't help thinking of the scene at the end of Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman (who Daughter in Ohio, as a toddler, called A. B. Beastman).

A dog party!
A big dog party!
Big dogs, little dogs,
red dogs, blue dogs,
yellow dogs, green dogs,
black dogs, and white dogs
are all at a dog party!
What a dog party!

Of course, the dogs at the pool were just the ordinary dog colors, and they weren't partying at the top of a tree, but it was definitely a dog party. And a good, wet, time was had by all.

I didn't know ahead of time that people would be getting in the water with their dogs, or I would have had Daughter bring her swimsuit. So I just decided we wouldn't worry about her clothes getting wet. After all, this isn't something she gets to do very often.

Looking at that picture, I remembered the movie Dances With Wolves, and thought that Daughter's name could be Swims With Rottweilers. ;)

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Would Clinton Leave Iraq

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 23 September 2007 11:37:00 PM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

Last month after a Dem presidential debate, I wrote that, "The Dem Primary Won't Be Decided Over Iraq":

Given the opportunity in Sunday's ABC debate to distinguish themselves from Sen. Hillary Clinton on Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards passed.
Which raises the question: how do they think they are going to dislodge her from her front-runner position?...
...she is the only candidate who reportedly believes that we should have US troops in Iraq by Jan. 2017 at least.
She has not said that publicly, but Ted Koppel has reported that she privately told a former Pentagon official who has briefed her that "she would still expect U.S. troops to be in Iraq at the end of her second term."...
... perhaps, if voters believed Clinton would not really end the war -- and primary voters really want to end the war -- that would gives voters pause.
Yet when Sunday's debate moderator George Stephanopoulos prodded the candidates to clarify their differences on Iraq, neither Edwards or Obama exploited the opening.

Now, Sen. Clinton has created a fresh opening.

On ABC's This Week and CBS' Face The Nation today, she refused to pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq.

From ABC:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Can you pledge that all US troops will be home over the course of your first term as president?
CLINTON: You know I'm not going to get into hypotheticals and make pledges, because I don't know what I'm going to inherit, George.

And on CBS, she said:

...there will be remaining missions. The counter-terrorism mission against Al Qaeda in Iraq. The protection of our embassy and our civilian workforce in Iraq. The continuing mission of training the Iraqi army ... There will also, in my view, be a continuing mission with respect to the Kurds in the north...
...So when I have voted to say that we're going to start withdrawing troops by a date certain, it has always including a recognition of these continuing responsibilities.

Later on Face The Nation, NY Times' David Sanger put that list of "remaining missions" in perspective: "it's very hard when you talk to Pentagon people to have them figure out how you do that with fewer than 100,000 troops."

More importantly, (putting aside the question whether we need a residual force at all) why couldn't these missions be accomplished in a relatively short time?

Al Qaeda in Iraq is overhyped. There's no need for a large US civilian workforce to remain long-term. Training the Iraqi army should not be an 10-year enterprise.

If we're not planning to occupy Iraq forever, why can't we pledge to complete these missions by 2012, if not sooner, and remove the sense of occupation among Iraqis?

Sen. Clinton's rivals have a fresh opening to ask these questions, and make the case she would not truly end the occupation while they would.

If they don't ask them, it's hard to see what other openings they can identify to dislodge Clinton from her frontrunner perch.

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Oh no, Romney now telling people he'll be a CEO
president

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 23 September 2007 11:23:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Remember Bush, the first CEO President? That didn't really work out too well now, did it? Considering how badly American CEO's are enriching themselves at the expense of others, hmmm, maybe he's onto something though perhaps he might not want to brag too loudly on this point considering the mood towards CEOs bathing in riches while the rest of us live like, well, the rest of us. On the bright site of his latest pitch, he provides some quality entertainment and I have to give him credit for being able to make this denial while not laughing. Pretty impressive delivery, really.

"I'm not in this race for the next step in my political career. I don't have a political career, to tell you the truth," Romney said during a stop at Chapman University. "I've only been in politics four years as a governor. I loved the experience, but my life is my wife and my family. My career was building an enterprise, a business, with some other fellows."

Also of note here is the final line "with some fellows." Sounds like women will do well trying with a guy like this. What century is he living in? What a knuckle-dragging buffoon.

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Running the Gauntlet...and Throwing It Down

post from MyDD on 23 September 2007 11:20:47 PM. © MyDD

Disclaimer: Week 7 of the partisan candidate diaries. I am not associated with any of the campaigns, just a long-time observer of Democratic presidential politics and the father of a college daughter. Senator Clinton appeared on "This Week," "Fox News[...]

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Sunday Videos

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 23 September 2007 11:16:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Happy Birthday to The Boss ("Adam Raised A Cain," acoustic live at Stockholm in '93)...

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...and Ray Charles would have been 77 today ("Georgia On My Mind").

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For more videos, please check the WeShow link from the home page.

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Sunday Late Nite: The Long Haul

Did you realize, this week, that nothing’s getting fixed soon? Did you realize, this week, that things are seriously awry in The Village? Did you realize, this week, that allies inside the Beltway — those we had counted on in our fight to[...]

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Devendra Banhart

This week XL will release Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, the new Devendra Banhart album.If it were really a movement, Devendra, maybe along with Sufjan Stevens and Joanna Newsom, would be the leader of the new acid folk/indie folk movement. Although most people think of him as a San Francisco musician he was born in [...]

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Primary Crossfire

Just in case it isn't clear, I don't really care if Democratic primary candidates, or their surrogates, take potshots at each other. It's an election! It's politics!

What I do care about are a) Democrats who reinforce bogus right wing frames about Democrats generally and b) A lackey press weaned on doing the same. Add a little bit c) which is the tendency of the Beltway press to have a seizure about perceived blogger conflicts of interest while dutifully ignoring those of their favorite sources.