Hillary's party of hawks inside the administration
James Forsyth 7:34pm
On the Chris Matthews Show, David Ignatius set out the internal debate in the administration about Af-Pak policy:
What is interesting about this is that it shows that Holbrooke and Clinton—who are close and both supported the Iraq war and are among the most hawkish Democrats—have not changed their foreign policy views. These two in concert with Petraues, will act as the more hawkish pole of the administration.“Vice President Biden and the deputy secretary of state Jim Steinberg argued for this narrow focus on al-Qaeda, a kind of minimal definition of the US role. Richard Holbrooke, our new emissary to that part of the world, Hillary Clinton argued with General Petraeus for a broader nation-building effort. And as near as I can tell--we'll have to sort this out over the next week--the president came--leaned on the side of the Biden narrower definition, because I think he's nervous about getting in too deep, the very question you raised at the outset. The problem is you can't do the narrow mission, you can't pacify and stabilize these border areas without also doing the nation building. So, you know, he's in.”
It is also worth noting, as Norah O’Donnell pointed out, that Obama in his speech announcing his new policy mentioned “Afghanistan” 33 times and “Pakistan” 41 times. Then on Sunday, Obama talked about al Qaeda moving its base of operations over the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
The administration seems increasingly comfortable making it clear that Pakistan is actually the bigger problem. Having said that, it is no further on than anyone else in coming up with robust ideas for how to solve this problem.
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THX1138
March 30th, 2009 7:52pm Report this commentCheck Out Mark Urban's blog on Obama & Afghanistan
Great reading as always.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/markurban/
Owen Morgan
March 31st, 2009 2:00am Report this commentIt's a shame this David Ignatius doesn't appear to speak anything resembling English. Has he taken lessons from John Prescott?
THX1138
April 4th, 2009 10:10am Report this commentWhat's happend to Americano. We need a post.
Palin is providing some fun again
She seems to think that an elected Senator Mark Begich should stand down because Ted Stevens got lucky and let off.
Best quote on the whole sorry mess.
From Balloon Juice
"The guy she said should resign before the election ended up losing. Now she wants the guy who won to resign so that the guy she originally said should resign can get a fair election. What a maverick!"
And well done to Iwoa
THX1138
April 4th, 2009 10:20am Report this commentCabbie for You:
You probably don't read Vanity Fair but I thought you might be interested in this article on the The Buckleys.
Mr. and Mrs. Right
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/buckleys200901
Conservative Cabbie
April 4th, 2009 4:33pm Report this commentTHX
Begich only won the election because Stevens had the taint of prosecution hanging over him - now that that prosecution has been found to be tainted, it makes perfect sense for them to hold a special election, see what the Alaskans truly think. Seems perfectly democratic to me.
Strange though that you failed to bring up, as part of your talking points, yet another Obama nominee who failed to pay their taxes. Appointing tax defaulters to your cabinet seems a very inefficient way to collect outstanding taxes.
Mind you, they do need all the money they can get. Because of Obama's forecasted record deficits, every income tax paying family in America is going to be saddled with an extra effective debt to the tax man of $163,000 over the next ten years. Now that's criminal!
THX1138
April 4th, 2009 10:27pm Report this commentCabbie At last some fun -- Begich won because he go the most votes and there ain't going to be re-run everybody know that's - What kind of political thug demands that an elected politician resigns for something the electorate did? Begich was ahead in the polls before Stevens was arrested
anyway and no doubt would have beaten him in November easily.
After the verdict Palin of course demanded that Stevens step down, she doing a great job of proving the Us electorate right in rejecting her for high office.
From the party of the Sore Loserman bumper sticker I'd keep quiet about it if I were you.
I note with some good natured fun that another one Palln's extend trailer trash family has been on the rampage again , burglary this time
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/140107
Bristol's ex fiancé Levi I'm a "f****** redneck" mother was busted for drugs probably meth after all Wasilla did become meth capital of Alaska on Mayor Palin's watch.
That did last long after the fumble in the back of the pick up did it :-)
Missed the story about another tax dodger will check it out tomorrow and we have been over the stimulus before.
My only additional point from our previous debate on this is that If you think that putting money into the economy Is the right think to do you might as well just get on and spend the money directly. If you try and stimulate the economy with just tax cuts you run the risk that the deficit increases without the stimulating the wider economy because people save the additional cash and don't spend it and therefore more people lose their job. Now that's criminal!
Conservative Cabbie
April 5th, 2009 7:08am Report this commentTHX
Extended family? Boy, that's a loose description. We're talking about the half-sister of the husband. How exactly does that reflect on Sarah Palin? Unlike, for example, an Aunt living in the US illegally who, surprise surprise, get's an exemption whilst her nephew is the President. Which of those two is the most scandalous?
As for Begich, your nose for the facts is a little out of joint. He won by 1% of the vote. Now considering that Ted Stevens was convicted less than a week before, I'd hardly say that that was a compelling win.
Secondly, you neglect to point out that Sarah Palin was not the first to call for the re-run, it was her party in Alaska. She only responded to a journalist's question saying that she agreed with the call for a special election. So shock horror, Governor supports her local party - hold the front pages!
For what it's worth, I don't think there should be a special election. I'd like to see crooked politicians out of politics. Unfortunately, it seems Obama doesn't. That's why he's appointing so many people to his cabinet who don't seem to know how to pay their taxes. That's why he hasn't called on Charlie Rangel or Chris Dodd to step down. Where's your outrage on the ever increasing list of Corruptocrats that populate Washington.
I also note that Obama has called America "arrogant" and "dismissive" and "derisive" towards it's allies. It's nice to see that he feels so strongly about his country.
THX1138
April 5th, 2009 10:19am Report this commentCabbie This is probably getting a bit nerdy and I'm sure we could trade stories on the clown shoes of both parties forever.
I will say that I totally agree with you about the need for a less bent poilitical class for the Dem's & the GOP and both sides of the Atlantic for that matter.
Lets keep our powder dry for something worth getting our teeth into and go out and enjoy the good weather.
PS Palin is up to more shenanigans here:
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2009/04/sarah-palin-is-terrible-governor-part.html
Sorry I couldn't resist -:) !!
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