Day: August 6, 2007

Iraq So-Called Government Falls Apart as Remaining Sunnis Quit Cabinet

Trish

I hate to break away from Utah mine collapse coverage just as Lindsay Lohan, in the state for more rehab, might make an appearance but…

The Iraqi government is falling apart.

…five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings — leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

Clueless State Dept. calls Sunni boycott “very healthy political debate”

…The new cracks in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government appeared even as U.S. military officials sounded cautious notes of progress on security, citing strides against insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq but also new threats from Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

…The Cabinet boycott of five ministers loyal to former Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi left the government, at least temporarily, without participants where were (sic) members of the Sunni political apparatus — a deep blow to the prime minister’s attempt to craft reconciliation among the country’s majority Shiites and minority Sunnis and Kurds.

The defense minister is from a Sunni background but has no political ties and was chosen by al-Maliki.

The Allawi bloc, a mixture of Sunnis and Shiites, cited al-Maliki’s failure to respond to its demands for political reform. The top Sunni political bloc already had pulled its six ministers from the 40-member Cabinet of al-Maliki, a Shiite, last week.

So there are no Sunnis at all in the Iraqi Cabinet anymore. But hey, the U.S. State Department isn’t worried. That’s because they’re also clueless.

“There’s a very healthy political debate that is going on in Iraq, and that is good,” [State Department spokesman Sean] McCormack said. “It’s going to be for them (the Iraqi people) to make the judgments about whether or not that government is performing.”

What we need in this country is a very healthy Iraqi-style debate on whether our government is performing.

Bush’s Unpopularity Streak Beats Nixon’s – Could Best Truman’s

Jon Ponder

George Bush’s favorability rating has now been below 40 percent for 18 months, which beats the 15-month streak of Richard Nixon’s unpopularity, which ended in his resignation under threat of impeachment. And with 17 months left to go, Bush still has time to beat the all-time record of 30 months below 40 percent held by Harry Truman:

George W. Bush has sunk below Richard Nixon and could break Harry Truman’s record for persistent unpopularity among modern U.S. presidents.

The latest Gallup Poll found that Bush’s popularity had been below 40 percent for six consecutive quarters [18 months], the Dallas Morning News reports. Nixon ended his five-quarter [15-month] streak by resigning in 1974.

Truman’s approval ratings were below 40 percent for 10 [quarters], the longest ever in the history of the Gallup Poll. Bush, with six quarters [18 months] remaining in his second term, could surpass Truman.

In Debate, Romney Repeats Descredited Claim That Saddam Was Behind 9/11

Jon Ponder


Is it possible that Mitt Romney is even dumber than George Bush? At yesterday’s GOP debate in Iowa, he tossed out the old Saddam equals al Qaeda canard that even Bush has been forced to repudiate:

The bad news is, history has taught us that intelligence is not even on the list of attributes Republicans look for in their presidents.

“Just come home,” dissented Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the lone advocate of a quick troop withdrawal on a presidential campaign debate stage. He said there had never been a good reason to go to war in the first place.

“Has he forgotten about 9/11?” interjected former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Last year, during his address to the nation on the fifth anniversary of the 2001 attacks, Bush grudgingly admitted that the connection he and his administration’s top official made between Saddam and the attacks was a lie:

George Bush last night admitted that Saddam Hussein had no hand in the 9/11 terror attacks, but he asked Americans to support a war in Iraq that he said was the defining struggle of our age…

“I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks,” Mr Bush said

Romney’s assertion otherwise in the debate was of course, a lie. And yet the moderator, George Stephanapolous, the famous liberal, did not stop to ask him if he had new evidence of Saddam’s culpability in the 2001 attacks.

Romney is playing to the ever-shrinking GOP base — particularly to the last vestige of true-believers in the false Saddam-al Qaeda connection rolled out by Bush and his rightwing talk-radio propagandists in 2002 and 2003 during the run-up and aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

What is unsmart about this is the fact that the number of people who remain under the delusion that invading Iraq was retribution for the 2001 attacks is dwindling, even among Republicans. By the time votes are counted 64 weeks from now, the number who cling to the illusion that the attacks justified the war could be minuscule.

Ron Paul, the smartest GOP candidate, and thus the one no chance, also injected this rare moment of common sense into yesterday’s debate:

“If you make a mistake and you’re marching toward a cliff, the best thing you can do is march back,” Texas Congressman Ron Paul said.

The bad news is, history has taught us that intelligence is not even on the list of attributes Republicans look for in their presidents, so if history is to be our guide, they could well foist Romney on the nation, if the November 2008 election is close.