for pundits, the losing bet still takes the pot

* kleiman:

"Just as "evil and crazy" was not an adequate model for predicting what Saddam Hussein would do next and isn't an adequate model for predicting what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will do next "evil, crazy, and ignorant" isn't an adequate model of the behavior current ruling junta. I don't deny that Bush and his cronies are evil, crazy, and ignorant in important ways, merely that the project of understanding what he's up to can't rest on reciting those slogans."

* one of the many things that drives me crazy is when all the wingnuts say 'we can't leave iraq - Teh Terrorists will have a safe haven!!!' - here's peggy effin noonan in the wsj today:

"One argument seems tired and not true. It is that if we leave Iraq, the terrorists of the world will have a safe place in which to gather, coalesce, plan and move. They already have such places, in the Mideast and outside it, and maybe here. Terrorists hide, and the world is full of hiding places."

wow.

Noonan also calls the Dems "wholly unserious" and then she went on to say:

"When Nancy Pelosi showed up at the White House Wednesday to talk with the president it was obvious she'd spent a lot of time thinking about . . . what to wear. She wrapped herself in a rich red shawl. Dick Morris said it looked like a straitjacket. I thought she looked like a particularly colorful mummy. She complained that the president had not asked for her input as he put together his plan. He should have. But what would she have brought to the table if she'd been asked to it? It is still--still!--unclear."

(booman has fun with noonan here)


* fdl:

"The Administration knows they're in trouble when Secretary of State Rice (before the Senate) and press secretary Tony Snow (on Hardball) go out of their way to deny the President's plan is an "escalation" and insist on calling this an "augmentation" — and instead of buying it, everyone just gets angrier at them. Instead of rallying the nation, they’re scaring it with their provocations against Iran. In an apparent reminder of how dangerous this is, the US Embassy has now been attacked in Greece.

This is a very dangerous moment, because this Administration is desperate. They know they've lost the confidence of the American people, but they’re not listening. They're losing the war in Iraq and losing the war of language at home. And now the President may be losing his own party. This Administration is in freefall, and they’ve thrown back every life line that’s been handed to them. So be it."

* swanson:

"There is a decent chance that within the next month or two the New Mexico State Legislature will ask the U.S. House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. And there is the definite possibility that a Congress Member from New Mexico will take up the matter when it gets to Washington. The Jefferson Manual, rules used by the U.S. House, allows for impeachment to be begun in this manner. It only takes one state legislature. No governor is needed. One Congress Member, from the same state or any other, is needed to essentially acknowledge receipt of the state's petition. Then impeachment begins.

Last year the state legislatures of California, Minnesota, Illinois, and Vermont introduced but did not pass resolutions to send impeachment to the U.S. House. The State Senator who introduced the bill in Minnesota is now a member of Congress, Keith Ellison. He is one of many Congress Members waiting for the right moment to impeach Bush and Cheney. The state of New Jersey has a strong activist movement working to introduce and pass impeachment this year. There's a race now to see which state can do it first, which state can redeem these United States in the eyes of the world. New Mexico is jumping into the contest in a big way, with a terrific leading sponsor of the bill, strong Democatic majorities in both houses, and a citizens' movement ready to hold its government to account."

* everyone is pointing to this wholly disheartening radar article:

"The Iraq Gamble
At the pundits' table, the losing bet still takes the pot"